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Team Insights Review – How to Motivate a Team with a Web App

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team insights review

Team Insights has been developed by a Brighton based company, HowToMotivateATeam Ltd, and that is exactly what it does. It works alongside existing HR software and process to survey your team and identify exactly where you need to focus to engage and motivate them.

Why is this important? Well there is a lot of research that clearly shows that a motivated and engaged team is more productive, happier and more profitable.

Continue reading this Team insights review for more information on this web-based program.

Increase Employee Engagement and Motivate Employees

The ‘How to Motivate a Team’ website gives you access to the web-based ‘Team Insights’ software for better staff performance.  All the tools and analysis will be done online, and can be accessed from any computer or device.

With this system, you will increase your employee engagement, increase productivity as a result of the better motivation, focus on any wasted effort and be able to see the results of the changes you have made. It is very simple to use the pre-built survey.

Team Insights identifies the factors which are having a negative impact on motivation, so you and the team can replace them with positive ones. Rather than being a staff survey the questions help you understand what you can do as a manager to improve the environment in which your team are working to help them flourish and deliver the best possible performance for your business.

Leaders, Managers and Directors Benefit From Team Insights

Any professional working in a supervisory role (supervisors, team leaders, trainers, managers, directors, HR directors and CEOs) will benefit from using this employee engagement software. It will help them understand in clear terms why their team are not performing as they should!

Your team will suddenly come into focus as you have a clear picture of how best to engage and motivate them and increase productivity in the process. Any busy manager, director or supervisor can get clear Team Insights with minimal effort on their part.

Why You Need Team Insights

You’re a busy professional and don’t always have time to analyze what your employees are doing and how to effectively motivate them. Team Insights can do this for you.

This includes improving the performance of your employees and team members by understanding how to engage them. This will increase your profitability, reduce staff churn and reducing your recruitment costs, reducing the stress and anxiety of your team and increasing productivity by reducing absence and sickness.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

If you would like to try Team Insights, you can do so by signing up for their free trial and send a free team survey.

You don’t have to commit to anything to use the trial – no credit card details are required and you get access to the whole product. After you sign up and activate your account by clicking the link in your email, you will be taken to the First Time Wizard. This helps guide you through the set-up process.

Team Insights First Time Wizard

To build your team, click on “Build My Team.” From here, you will be able to add up to 500 email addresses in one box. This invites all of them at one time and saves you hours of time as you don’t have to invite them individually.

BuildMyTeamIf you want to start new active surveys, you will need to purchase credits through PayPal. To do this, click on “New Active Surveys” at the top of the page and follow the instructions to purchase more credits. With a new account, you start with two credits.

PurchaseCredits

 

After setting up your account, you will also be able to manage active surveys, view your action plan and view your team dashboard.

Team Insights Dashboard

Team Insights Manage Active Survey

Pros and Cons of Team Insights

Like anything you try, there will be pros and cons to any software.

The only real disadvantage I found was having to purchase credits for certain aspects of the program. However this is a very small disadvantage when compared to all the benefits it gave me. Some of the best features of Team Insights are the graphical and colorful dashboard with graphs, seeing how your team compares to other teams, the custom action plan and the helpful email notifications of the results and survey progress.

Is It For You?

If you are looking for a way to increase productivity and improve the motivation and engagement of your employees then Team Insights is well worth a trial – it will undoubtedly tell you something you did not know about your team.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Makes team building and motivating employees easy" cons= "The method of payment is clunky " score=9]

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Sendloop Review – Email Simplicity, Reliability, And Metrics

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The heart and soul of any online business effort is the mailing list.

Sendloop says they are making it easy to send good looking emails and conduct effective ad campaigns. If it makes my email process simpler, it’s worth checking out.

In this Sendloop review, the app creator Cem Hurturk says that he created it to make it easy for small to medium sized businesses manage their email marketing campaigns on their own. So today, I am reviewing Sendloop.

Email Campaigns Are Too Time-Consuming And Complicated

Email marketing is critical to pretty much every single business entity that exists today, even in the days of social media. Most online business owners just cringe at the thought of creating emails, making sure the right people get them at the right time and then figuring out if the campaign was successful.

Sendloop is selling simplicity to business owners.

No Advanced Skills Required

Sendloop prides itself on how easy it is to set up and operate. It’s a breeze to import your list, set up a campaign, design attractive emails and track how you are doing. They are proud of their up-time and state-of-the-art equipment.

Their service is for businesses that don’t have a lot of time or skill to devote to email campaigns. Their goal is to make the process and the advertising straightforward and effective.

Templates, Integration, Reliability And Real-Time Statistics

Sendloop offers itself as a platform that simplifies the process of putting together and personalizing emails to your customers. They give you templates and unlimited custom fields to make all emails sounds personal to each customer. For peace of mind, you can test them in their safe environment before actually sending anything out.

You can have as many lists as you want. They handle all your subscriber lists and subscriber segmentation.

Detailed reporting of who opened your emails, who clicked which links and who unsubscribed are clearly shown on the dashboard. It integrates easily with a number of popular platforms like Highrise, WordPress and Google Analytics.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

This shows the Sendloop statistics overview. You’re only a click away from all the categories.

 It’s easy to see how your current campaign is going.

On this screen you can check details about your subscribers.

They make it easy to send personalized emails to your list.

They have a variety of email templates to choose from, or you can use your own.

Easy To Set Up, Easy To Track

Sendloop makes it possible for someone without design or advertising agency experience to import a list of subscribers, create personal, effective and good looking emails. In addition, it enables the small business owner to track how they are affecting sales by just logging into the dashboard. It works with systems that you probably already own like Highrise, EvenBrite and WordPress.

They offer online support, a forum, extensive Knowledge Base and an excellent FAQ.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Sendloop has a variety of pricing models. With the free plan you can send 2500 emails to 500 subscribers a month. For larger numbers and if you email seldom, you can buy credits as you need them.

For subscribers there are three levels of pricing, individuals, small and larger size businesses, on a monthly basis. They will work with you to create a custom plan that fits your requirements. There is a free 30-day trial requiring no credit card.

Is It For You?

Sendloop is a simple way to send great looking email to your subscriber base. They provide templates and other aids for creating them. They make it extremely easy to track how effective they are. Pricing is customizable too. One-click integration means you can use the systems you already own. For an online marketer or small business owner looking for ease of use, Sendloop is a good choice.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Simplicity at it's best"  cons= "None " score=9.5]

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Ideascale Review – Share Ideas Simply and Effectively

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Ideascale is a simple and straightforward place for customers, clients and stakeholders to come together and share ideas. Feedback and ideas from a variety of sources is shared on Ideascale, which has been a cloud-based system since 2008.

IdeaScale uses the tagline “Empower Innovation,” describing their value-add as the ability to bring out the best ideas from your customers and stakeholders via an easy cloud-based platform.

Let’s find out in this Ideascale review how this idea management app works.

Submit Ideas and Feedback

Ideascale has been around since 2008 when it started with many high-profile clients in the government including the FCC, VA and the Office of the President of the United States. After the first year of operation, the cloud-based system began introducing more private sector and enterprise clients. Many large brands utilize the tools and resources provided by Ideascale. Some features include customers sending feedback, communities discussing and voting on new ideas, and having access to the best ideas, many of which were chosen by your community.

Business Owners Find Multiple Benefits

Anyone who is in charge of a business or enterprise will find dozens of benefits to using Ideascale. It can often be difficult finding a single place for your customers, clients and stakeholders to come together in order to share ideas while offering feedback. Ideascale lets you do all of this and much more.

Dozens of Features

Aside from the cloud-based application that can be accessed anywhere, you also get access to many popular features. This includes having custom user fields, single sign-on, CSS customization, Facebook application, private communities, Ideascale app, 99.99% availability, campaigns, forums, comment voting, contract, community forums, custom URLs, custom development, email based access restrictions, file attachment, polling tool, profanity filter, and more.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The first step to accessing Ideascale is by signing up for a free trial. All new users get a free trial that doesn’t require a credit card or bank account information. Once you have successfully signed up for the service, click on the link in your email to activate your account. This gives you immediate access. The first thing it asks for you to do is complete your profile including adding a profile picture. You can also click on “Profile” on the left-hand side to change your password, email, service or device.

 

ProfileSetUp

 

If you want to create a new community, all you need to do is click on “Communities” on the left-hand side and then click on “Create a New Community.” Enter the community details including the company name, feedback community name, Ideascale URL, campaign information, select whether it is public or private and enter payment information.

 

CreateNewCommunity

 

Once you have communities entered, click on “Your Communities” from the left-hand column and this will show you all communities you have created so far.

 

YourCommunities

 

To change information about your account or billing info, click on the “Plans, Billing & Invoices” link on the left-hand column. Here you can upgrade your plan, upgrade the market, get access to billing, invoices and receipts, change the communities owned and even cancel your account.

PlansBilling

 

Pros And Cons Of Ideascale

With Ideascale, you get a cloud-based system making the idea creation and feedback method easier than ever. It also includes many new features like widgets, IP-based access restrictions, customizing status tabs, badges, leaderboard, Google Analytics and being mobile optimized. The disadvantage is that for access to more features, you need to choose a membership plan for a higher cost each month. In other-words, some features are not available in the less expensive memberships.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Ideascale makes it easy to join and find a membership plan that is right for you. You will get a free trial from the beginning and no setup fees, contracts or termination fees if you decide to cancel your account. Ideascale offers four plans: Lite, Monthly, Annual and Enterprise. Each plan offers a different selection of features. The Lite plan gives you unlimited tags, logo uploads and email support, the Monthly plan will offer you unlimited campaigns, widgets and u to 5 moderators. With the annual plan, you get billed annually, one public or private community, single sign-on and custom CSS styling. The Enterprise plan is the most extensive and expensive with 99% up time, dedicated account manager and full API access. It can be quite pricey for small businesses who want access to all the features.

Is It For You?

If you’re looking for a simpler way to collect feedback and new ideas for your business or firm, Ideascale is a great way to accomplish this. With many different membership plans to choose from, affordable pricing and a no-risk free trial, there is nothing to lose.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 3.5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Innovative, creative and useful" cons= "Maybe a bit pricey for very small business " score=8.5]

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Outright Review – Automated Bookkeeping That’s Easy

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outrightlogoIf you run a small business and are have been struggling with excess amounts of paperwork and confusing spreadsheets, you’re in luck. Outright is a comprehensive and easy-to-use online accounting program that simplifies the bookkeeping process. With Outright you will be able to organize your small business income and expenses, link your bank and credit card accounts and even have tax information at your fingertips throughout the year.

I actually use Outright for my bookkeeping needs. As you might have guessed, I am a freelancer. It’s just me, so I’m the worker and the accountant. I’m going to say up front that I love Outright and have been using it since it first came on the market, when it was completely free. Let´s start our Outright review.

Streamlined Bookkeeping

Outright will streamline and manage everything from your tax receipts and accounts to your business expenses and money coming in from invoices. No longer will you need to worry about when your office utility bills are due or be unsure about the stream of income coming in.

Outright was first launched in 2008 and has since grown to more than 200,000 users. In 2012, Go Daddy purchased Outright but they haven’t changed a thing. It still continues to be one of the leading bookkeeping software available for individuals and businesses.

Business Owners Save Time And Energy With Outright

As a small business owner, you have enough to worry about; the last thing you need is to keep track of files, documents and remember spreadsheet formulas for your expenses. Outright makes the entire bookkeeping process a breeze that anyone can do it. They use single entry bookkeeping instead of complicated double entry method.

Everything can be automated easily. Simply connect your accounts. For instance, I take all my payments via PayPal.com for my business. Therefore, I have PayPal integrated with Outright.com. I don’t have to do any data entry. Since all my expenses and income go through PayPal, there is no data entry. Sometimes, I do have to go in and delete a transaction that was not business related, or categorize it as “owners draw”. I am not concerned with that so I just delete it.

If you prefer doing all the data entry yourself, you can do so with Outright. Simply click either Expense or Income and use the handy “check book like” entry.

Tax season will be stress-free as the program has already prepared everything for you. As long as you chose the right categories, Outright saves you time, money and energy so you can get back to business. It literally took me two minutes to print out my schedule C for data entry into my Tax Software.

You’ll also be happy to note that if you pay for the software, (yes, they still have a free option) you will also have your quarterly taxes computed for you.

User-Friendly Bookkeeping Software With No Installing Or Downloading

Outright is one of the only types of bookkeeping software that doesn’t require downloading, installing and frustrating set-up. It can be used in just minutes after signing up and is easy enough for anyone to use.

Since all your credit card and bank accounts are linked to the program, you never have to go searching for a receipt or invoice again. Everything is available to view online or download and print for filing purposes.

You can also link other online accounts, such as if you sell products on Amazon, eBay or Etsy. This helps keep all of your business streamlined and available from one program. What’s more, Outright offers an iPhone app so you can access the software while on the go.

From the app you’re able to enter cash transactions, get alert when you get large sales, check balances and enter your mileage and other expenses to be used for tax deductions.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Once you sign up for Outright, you will be taken directly to the set-up page. From here, you can link accounts such as your bank accounts, credit cards, PayPal, Amazon, Etsy and many others. All you do is click the button for that account and enter your information.

signup_zps4e14d063

 

 

Once the set-up is complete, you will be directed to the dashboard where you can access everything you need. From the dashboard, you have immediate access to your expenses, income, reports, taxes, balances, profit loss for the past year, new sales or expenses, invoices, money you owe and money going out.

To view a more detailed list of your income, click on the Income tab at the top of the page. Here you will see all money in invoices you have sent out, which are still pending, money you owe, taxes, business and non-business transactions.

dashboard_zps08f279f0

 

Income View:

income_zps01ba7589

 

You can also view detailed Profit & Loss Reports from the Reports tab. This gives you a list of your best customers, biggest vendors, your spending habits, sales by state and the type of income for each transaction.

reports_zps2d7edd60

 

Pros And Cons of Outright 

Outright offers you a very long list of benefits and very few disadvantages. If anything, the only disadvantage would be that you need Internet access or a mobile device to use the software. If your electricity is out or Internet goes down, you won’t have immediate access to the information.

However it includes a myriad of benefits, including the following:

  • Free Trial
  • Easy Set-Up
  • Tax Information
  • Balance Alerts
  • User-Friendly Interface
  • Detailed Reports
  • Integration With Other Apps

One other issue I have experienced with Outright.com is that if you have several accounts that are already connected you may end up with double entries. For instance, I used to have Outright connected with Freshbooks and PayPal. Since Freshbooks would generate the same income that PayPal was generating when a client paid me via PayPal, I ended up having to go in and delete multiple transactions that were repeats. I simply removed the integration with Freshbooks and kept the integration with PayPal to eliminate this problem since some of my clients do not want to use Freshbooks and prefer PayPal invoices and all of my clients pay me via PayPal.  They also recently changed the way you delete a transaction so that you must delete only one at a time through multiple steps, instead of being able to delete multiple transactions in one step. While I’m sure bookkeepers love that because it makes it harder to delete a transaction, for my purposes it’s just irritating.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

A terrific feature of Outright is that you can create your account free of charge. This doesn’t require a bank account, credit card, expiration dates, or monthly fees. If you want additional features like Annual reports and sales tax tracking, you can pay a monthly fee for Outright Plus, but it isn’t required.

I do highly recommend that you pay the low monthly fee, however. The tax information, and the reports are truly priceless information. Plus, the cost of using the program is tax deductible for most business owners.

Is it For You?

If you’re looking for an easier and cheaper way to manage the books, including your income, expenses and invoices, Outright is the perfect option.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="I cannot speak highly enough of Outright.com. It offers everything a small business owner needs in Bookkeeping" cons= "Some functions such as the delete transaction function could be improved" score=10]

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Vorex Review – User Friendly Project Management

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Vorex reviewVorex provides an excellent Professional Services Automation (PSA) solution that is above anything you may have considered before, a true project management tools and resources to help you simplify your projects and entire business.

In this Vorex review we will describe some of the high-quality tools offered that include expense tracking, time tracking, reporting, HR, invoicing, payments, CRM, control, security and more. Continue reading to learn more about Vorex and what they can offer you.

Simplified Project Tracking

Vorex not only provides CRM and project management, but they pride themselves on offering easy to use tools and tracking apps. With Vorex, you get immediate access to workflow software management, including project management tools, time tracking for different tasks and projects, integrated invoicing, and an advanced integrated CRM solution for tracking your contacts, opportunities, quotes, and other purposes.

Business Owners Receive Streamlined Opportunities

By using Vorex, you can have streamlined opportunities (leads) that develop into projects with s single click, and the ability to assign different employees and management to various projects. This enables you to control all aspects of each project including time spent, and more. You can create projects using the advanced software tools for tasks and clients, have CRM integration, real-time billing of hours and expenses, budget control tools for tracking and monitoring your expenses, ticket management, smart staffing, and even advanced forecasting which is one of the top features offered by Vorex.

User-Friendly Interface

Aside from the many tools you have access to for your project management, another benefit to Vorex is the user-friendly interface. You can literally begin using it immediately; that is how easy and simple the solution is. I’m serious. It’s easy. I have used other CRM systems as well as project management tools and in every aspect Vorex creators have thought of it all. Everything is cloud-based, which means it is all online and accessed through Vorex’s website. All tools, apps and resources are in one place making it even easier to manage your various projects, clients and employees.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

When you first sign in you can see the different ways you can unify your business. They make it super simple to get started.

Getting Started Vorex

You can select either A, B or C to learn about what each area accomplishes for your business and how it works. This is what happens when you select “A” you get a list that explains each step on how to add users, create a project, manage and staff a project and entering time and expenses. Nothing could be  simpler.

selectingA

The other areas, B and C are just as informative. Once you close the tutorial you can move on with your business. This is the opening screen.

vorex-home-screenshot

 

As you can see, it is self-explanatory and simple to set up a project, manage a project, add users, and more. In one glance you can see if there is any task you need to deal with immediately. One feature I really love is the ability to look at each section as a graph, which allows for immediate knowledge of what is working and what is not working. Here is an example. Keep in mind that I have nothing added to the categories since I have no invoices. But you can get the idea.

finance

Pros and Cons

The only real disadvantage is that there is so much to learn! But their easy tutorials will help. I guess another con would be the price, which could get high for some types of businesses with large number of employees, since the cost is per user. Other benefits include having a user-friendly interface, tracking and monitoring of your projects, data migration packages at no extra cost, no setup fees, and managing a large number of projects, clients, invoices, and employees in one location. It is, of course cloud-based which means it can be accessed from anywhere. It is compatible with all major web browsers, as well as Android, iPhone and iPad. This makes managing your entire business on the go super easy.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

One of the great things about Vorex is that you can choose from three different packages. Each package has a different set of tools and features and a different price. So if you’re just starting out, you can choose the least expensive plan and upgrade at a later date. You will also get access to a free trial when you first sign up, which doesn’t require a credit card until you’re ready to purchase one of the three packages. The prices are very reasonable for all the offerings, and there are neither long-term contracts nor setup fees associated with new accounts.

Is it For You?

If you run a business that requires project management, workflow management, financial controls and more, then you can’t lose with the free trial and multiple packages to choose from, there is no reason not to try the project management software available by Vorex.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 3.5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="True project management system! Creators thought of everything!" cons= "Could get pricey as price is per user" score=9]

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Lexity Review – Beneficial Suite of Apps For eCommerce Owners

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lexity logoLexity is an excellent source of tools for e-commerce websites including real-time analytics, visitor tracking and several other insights. It includes a variety of tools such as extensions, apps, plugins, Amazon Shopping, Google Shopping, Facebook Retargeting, Facebook Live Store and other marketing tools.

If you want to run an e-commerce site, Lexity offers all the tools and resources you might need to get up and running and keep the site maintained. These tools are compatible with popular ecommerce platforms like Virtuemart, Shopify, Prestashop, Volusion and Magento.

Let´s find out more with this Lexity review.

Unique and Effective App Platform

The app platform offered by Lexity is one of the best for e-commerce purposes. It includes marketing and organizational apps for your e-commerce site among many other benefits. Lexity began as a company who wanted to offer affordable, quality and effective management apps for e-commerce site owners. They abide by certain core principles including loyalty to their customers, increasing website sales, improving distribution and creating awareness through site tracking and analytics.

Lexity is Beneficial for E-Commerce Owners

Anyone who is running an e-commerce site will find the tools and apps useful on Lexity.

With Lexity Live, you will be able to monitor your site and customer activity in real-time, chat with your visitors and encourage closing of sales. You can look at your site traffic and revenue, get marketing insights you can use for more sales and view the trends of your store to look for peaks and drops. These tools will let you be more educated and informed on your store’s progress, get marketing advice and use the data to improve your success in the future.

Lexity is Effective and Easy to Use

One of the great things about Lexity is how easy it is to use from the very start. Once you sign up for the apps and tools, you can start using them right away. Lexity makes marketing your e-commerce site a simple process with their user-friendly database. You can use unlimited apps, tools and resources as offered by Lexity for your site.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Lexity Live is Lexity’s free flagship application that provides real-time visitor tracking and analytics. Here’s what the main dashboard looks like:

 

lexity 1 

Here is your Insights page. Your data will be analyzed and you’ll end up with recommendations.

lexity 2

You can see at a glance the revenue you’re bringing in.

lexity 3

Pros and Cons of Lexity

With Lexity, you will find very little disadvantages and dozens of benefits. Some advantages include having marketing apps and tasks, code snippets and detailed information about your site’s performance, platform permissions so that only you have access to the analytics and tracking apps, the ability to add apps at any time and not have a limit on the apps you use, importing of data that is quick and easy, and conversion as well as non-conversion marketing strategies. The main disadvantage is that each app costs a small fee and there isn’t a free trial.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

Lexity Live is a free app but they also offer other paid app options. Lexity charges on a per app basis. Each app is priced competitively and varies according to your monthly advertising budget. This is beneficial because instead of paying a monthly subscription fee, you have the option of only paying for the apps you know you will use  You also have a credit card stored on your account that will be charged every time you choose and install an app to use.

The Bottom Line

If you’re running an e-commerce site and looking for more management, marketing and tracking apps, Lexity can help you accomplish success.

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 3/5

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AIMcrm Review – Customer Relationship Management for Internet Marketers

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AIMcrm offers unique and powerful software and apps for customer relationship management (CRM). The software goes above and beyond the CRM you will find elsewhere, offering excellent tools, Internet marketing advice, automation software, up-to-date technology and the ability to capture and track customer relationship information with ease. As a freelancer who uses a CRM on a daily basis I was interested through this AIMcrm review in seeing how it worked for myself.

CRM Offered by Internet Marketing Experts

Active Internet Marketing, a marketing consultant firm that has been around since 2001, offers AIMcrm. Active Internet Marketing has over 15 years of marketing and advertising experience for small to medium-sized businesses offering many services for marketing. As experts in the field, they not only provide CRM applications that are state-of-the-art but other tools as well including web design, web development, search engine optimization (SEO) tools, pay-per-click advertising and more.

Small Biz or Large AIMcrm Works!

Nearly every type and size of business uses some form of customer relationship management tools at some point. Marketing — Internet marketing specifically — is the key to your success in today’s online marketing climate. Whether you have a bricks and mortar business, or you are strictly an Internet Marketer, you need a CRM devoted to your online marketing endeavors. Today, effectively managing customers is about having access to cloud-based software you can view and update from anywhere and get even more resources for improving your marketing strategies — AIMcrm does that and more. They have a unique process called the “Active Internet Marketing Process” which includes exposing your business to future customers, converting visitors into leads, automatically nurturing your leads, gathering real-time data automatically, optimizing the data and focusing more on increasing sales.

Advanced Technology and Capabilities

AIMcrm offers so many tools and capabilities that it would be impossible not to see why it is so beneficial to companies of all sizes and industries. You get automation for your marketing and sales force plus management of your employees and projects. You’ll end up with excellent client satisfaction rates after using the software. The call center technology and user-friendly database training can’t be beat. In addition, once you’ve set it all up, everything is also automated which makes it even easier for you.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

With AIMcrm you get exactly what you need in a CRM. You get a database of prospects, clients, and all the tools to ensure you wind up with the best conversion rates you can get. You get the analytics, record keeping, and control that you want, plus some. Useful features such as task management tools are built right in to the software. This makes it simple to use AIMcrm for every aspect of your marketing efforts. No need to set up a separate task software! So, let’s get to how it looks. Very detailed campaign tracking at a glance! campaign Tracking And the awesome Task Manager! tasks By using all the features that AIMcrm has, you’ll be that much more likely to close your sales. You’ll be able to keep track of every prospect or lead as it comes in, and every action you take with each and every lead. This will help multiple sales staff know best how to approach a particular prospect. You’ll have more control than ever, and you’ll close more deals than ever.

Benefits and Drawbacks

When you sign up for AIMcrm, you will see that there are many benefits and advantages to their cloud-based software application. In the beginning, there is fast and unlimited training that is optional if you want to learn more about CRM and how their tools work. Everything is web-based which of course benefits you in the long run because it can be accessed from anywhere. It is great for a variety of industries as well as it can be customized but they say it’s mostly for people with goods to sell, education, health care, manufacturing and professional services. The drawbacks are that you don’t get access to a free trial, but a live demo is available. You will also not be given pricing information until you finish the demo and contact the company, but I can tell you that the pricing can be a road block for some smaller businesses or low revenue businesses.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Pricing depends on your needs and the structure of your business. But the price is based per user, so if you have a large business it can become quite high.

Is It For You?

The free demo on AIMcrm will let you see how the software works and give you reasons why you should try it out for yourself. Sign up for the demo and decide for yourself whether it will be useful for your business and ultimate success. If you need a lead management system/ client management system/ customer relationship management system (CRM) that has fabulous analytics, integration, automation and fabulous customer service then it’s worth a try.

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 5/5, value 3/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

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Vivocha Review – Convert Online Visitors Faster

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This product is essential for meeting and talking with your customers choosing between different communication media and, if your desire is to convert visitors to customers, it allows  you to proactively engage with them, based on their navigation behavior.

Easily meet with your customers and conduct a one on one conversation via this platform. Vivocha allows you interact right on your website, with chat, video-chat, VoIP, CallBack or WebLead.

Simply copy and paste a single line of code, and a widget will appear on your website or blog, allowing the customer to contact you from there via their favorite media. In this Vivocha review we will look at the possibilities with this software in terms of customer relations, help desk, eCommerce and customer support.

Solve your Customer´s Problems On the Spot

This platform allows you to solve the problem of communication with website visitors. Normally, the visitor goes to your site, clicks around and reads or not reads and you have no way of reaching out to them unless they sign up for a newsletter or something like that. Now you can offer live communication at the time of their visit and when they’re most interested or have the most questions.  You are able to log in and access all of your clients from one area. You can chat with them, request callbacks, and much more, knowing who they are, their navigation history and seeing what they are seeing in real time. This tool is bringing you closer to your customers, improving communication and fostering the creation of a stronger relationship with them.

Any Type of Business Owner with a Website Can Use This Software

Whether you provide a product, or a service, Vivocha can improve your customer service exponentially. As a freelance writer, I can use it and be available when visitors come to my website and be right there to answer questions. I could also hire sales/support staff to be there and use the product to push sales or offer an help desk service.

Stop Losing Customers With Vivocha

You have mere seconds to impress a website visitor. If they’re clicking on and clicking away fast, this is another way to figure out how you can best serve your website visitors and turn them into clients. You can do so much with Vivocha aside from chatting with clients. You can call them back, collaborate, help them find what they want on your website,  You can set automatic proactive rules that will engage customers (via any of the communication channels available) depending on their behavior on the website, to target the most promising ones. Many businesses need this, from real estate agents, to freelance writers, to just about anyone who sells any product or service and want to have a better relationship/understanding of their customers.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The platform is very visual. You’ll see your stats as soon as you log in.  This is very useful information to see how you’ve done during the specified time period. It will show you graphs of the different number of people you have talked to and if you have improved or decreased in visitor numbers

The interface is easy to navigate on and is not cluttered with a lot of data that can confuse you.

one

The Dashboard is where you’ll start.

three

Then you can look at your stats
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And you can always get the support you need.

Positives and Negatives

Let’s get to the many positives of this awesome and useful software.

The pros are:

  1. You can connect to many clients through one platform
  2. You do not need to worry about logging in to a bunch of different places
  3. Connecting virtually is more convenient for people
  4. Your stats are recorded
  5. Easy pricing options, starting at 19$/mo

The cons are:

  1. If your Internet is down for the day, you cannot connect to your customers
  2. Some clients prefer a traditional way of communicating
  3. Someone has to be there to chat live

Fits Almost Any Budget for Almost Any Business

This platform is designed to fit into anyone’s budget and is inexpensive. The best part about this product is that it does not cost a lot of money. A program like this, that connects you to so many different clients and allows you to communicate with them, would be expensive, right? No! This product is extremely affordable and you get free credits. For the price of a gym membership you can use this platform. But, honestly, what is the cost of losing a customer?

Is It For You?

It’s definitely a good bargain and a great opportunity. Business owners can definitely manage and market their business effectively through this tool. You can be up and running in no time with Vivocha, you may as well give it a try. Just remember, someone needs to be available to chat live for those features to work.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

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Cyfe Review — All-in-One Business Dashboard

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Businesses today live and die by having access to the right information at the right time. Unfortunately, most businesses have the tools they use to analyze and understand various data points scattered from one end of the World Wide Web to another. It makes it difficult to keep up with all the information, as it’s needed.

That’s how Cyfe came to be. Deven Patel, founder of Cyfe, saw a real need in the business community for a method of gathering and collecting data in one place. As an entrepreneur, he was well aware of how much time was spent on gathering data, creating reports, and interacting with various portals and services throughout the day. Today, in my Cyfe review, we’ll find out if Deven succeeded.

All Your Key Business Data in One Convenient Location

There was a need in the business community to provide access to vital information in one convenient location. Not only is gathering information from all corners of the Internet a painstaking process, but it’s also time-consuming. Cyfe makes the entire process fast and easy.

Cyfe is an all-in-one business dashboard app that helps you monitor and analyze data scattered across all your online services like Google Analytics, MailChimp, Pinterest, Alexa, Klout, Instagram, SEOmoz, PayPal, LinkedIn, AdSense, Facebook, Constant Contact, AWeber, Salesforce, WordPress, and more.from one single location in real-time. You can connect your website, blog, email, social media accounts, and so much more to your Cyfe dashboards. You can even bring your company’s internal data into Cyfe via custom widgets.

cyfe1

It’s more than a simple dashboard or access point however. You can download reports, schedule email reports, and share the information with your team so that everyone is on the same page – literally.

You don’t have to stare at tiny little widgets all day and pray your eyesight holds out either. You can use TV mode to easily switch one or more of the dashboards on your monitor to the big screen monitor. If you prefer a certain look or want branded reports, the customization options available with Cyfe are sure to please too.

Internet Business Owners and Email Marketers – This is the Tool for You

There’s finally a tool out there that’s designed to make your job on the Internet much easier. Anyone who does a lot of switching back and forth on the Internet, for whatever reason, though can greatly benefit from Cyfe. This includes social media mavens who are constantly switching from Twitter to Facebook, LinkedIn, KLOUT, Pinterest and all points in between.

Startups can utilize this tool to monitor their day to day operations such as keeping tabs on number of new sign ups, conversions, and revenue.

Stock analysts who need real time access to data about stocks as they stream across the Internet are other people who can appreciate the capabilities that Cyfe represents for them.

Cyfe dashboards help you make better business decisions and save a ton of time by bringing all your business performance data under one roof and not having to log into multiple services every day.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Based on your specific business needs you can configure Cyfe to look like however you want. You can have a social media dashboard, web analytics dashboard, business operations dashboard, or marketing dashboard. There are infinite possibilities. Below is an example of a fully configured dashboard.

cyfe2

Once you sign up for the Cyfe free membership, an excellent starting point for anyone considering Cyfe, you’ll be taken to the dashboard area where you can begin installing widgets.

Cyfe - SS 2 - Getting Started

There is no need for complex or lengthy instructions. The “back office” area of the dashboard is extremely self-explanatory. You click on the little box on the tool bar to install your widgets and choose from the drop down menu. The widgets then appear on your blank canvas for you to arrange as you prefer.

Cyfe - SS 3 - Adding Widgets

Once you have the widgets you want installed (free trial subscribers have access to a limited number of widgets, you’ll have to upgrade your account for more) on your dashboard, you’re free to play around with the background and layout. You can add your own background or you can use one of the preset options available through Cyfe.

The Good: Fast Access to Vital Information – The Bad: Temptation is Front and Center

The best thing about Cyfe is that it gives you all the information you need at your fingertips. No more sorting through open windows in your browser. No more accidentally shutting down the wrong window because you have so many open that your mouse is constantly finding the wrong one. The Cyfe solution for getting all your vital information in one location is so elegant and simple it feels as if it’s almost too easy. This dashboard is the perfect eye candy for anyone with a slight deficiency in the attention department.

The downside however, especially for those who find social networks to be a supreme temptation or who have trouble not checking email boxes every five seconds is that temptation is there, right before your very eyes with Cyfe. There’s no hiding from it unless you have the willpower to delete the widget. In other words, you must exercise self-control. On the flip side, having real-time access to business performance data means that you can fix problems occurring in your business as fast as possible.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

This is perfect question to ask and the answer is a resounding, “Yes.” Free works with almost any budget. While you’ll only have access to a limited number of widgets, your free Cyfe account is the perfect tool to allow you to explore the potential of this dashboard for your Internet business and play. If you find the limit too restricting then you can explore the surprisingly affordable upgrade options.

Is It For You?

If you’re a serious business owner or manager looking to take your business to the next level with invaluable real-time insights then, it’s for you. With a free membership, there’s no reason to put off finding out for you. Try it on for size and see how you like the fit and feel of all your favorite places online on your all-in-one business dashboard.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

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AtMail Review – Email Management for Small to Medium Sized Business

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Businesses today need every edge to ensure that they come out ahead of their competitors. Thankfully programs like AtMail come along. The problem for many small businesses trying to make it big on the World Wide Web is that there are many tools and programs promising impressive results.

Because there are so many, it it’s difficult to know what you need for your business now, and what you can do without until a later date. One thing that no business is going to survive long without, however, is a solid email platform. In this AtMail review we will see how it delivers email for businesses in a really big way.

AtMail is much more than a simple email program for business. It’s an email solution for small to medium-sized businesses that need the flexibility of shared calendars, seamless mobility, simple syncing, and easy-to-implement branding options from their email.

If you’re on the go as much as I am, you’ll see the real beauty of AtMail is that it allows you to switch from desktop to laptop to tablet to mobile phone without sacrificing any of the full, rich features you expect from the AtMail service.

Email Solutions for Today’s Busy Marketers

Business owners today have sales teams that are more mobile than ever. Many managers, executives, and other workers take their work away from the office almost as much as they’re in the office – if not more — in fields where the bulk of the work is done on the road. Even freelancers like me take a lot of their work on the road, to the park, the library, hotels, and well, just about anyplace other than the office.

Traditional email methods lack easy synchronization in the best of times. That isn’t the case with AtMail.

Great Looking Email Management System with Clean Lines and Adequate White Spaces

You don’t have to worry about losing the important stuff in the clutter when you use AtMail services. The pages are easy to read and navigate. The lines are clean and well-defined whether you’re working on a desktop computer, tablet devices, or through mobile phone apps.

One area where other productivity-type programs fail is in finding the balance between work and home life. What I particularly like about the AtMail program is the fact that it allows users to identify personal and professional activities on the calendar as well as who has access to which calendar. This comes in handy for me.

In other words, not everything on the calendar is freely shared with the entire team. Anyone that has tried to juggle two calendars in the past knows how tricky that can be.

From a business perspective, the fact that you can truly take AtMail email and make it your own with logos and other branding tools is a huge plus for most small and medium-sized businesses. It gives a small business the ability to look “big” with these features.

You can also use as many domains as needed. You can even cluster domains to identify specific groups of people you’d like “read in” on your email, calendar, or to have access to your storage area. Users have the option of including everyone in their address books to make major announcements.

Many businesses struggle with the notable differences between different platforms. That isn’t a problem with AtMail. The ActiveSync is another boon that makes AtMail really stand out from the crowd.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

The AtMail website provides important clues about the platform itself. The site is open, uncluttered, and attractive to visitors. This is also the case of the email and calendar.

Atmail Screenshot 2 - Landing Page

Once you sign up you’ll want to get started right away. The great thing about AtMail is that they don’t leave you wondering what to do. They take you to the page where you’ll get things going for your business and the site offers easy-to-follow instructions about what comes next.

Atmail Screenshot 1 - Getting Started

Now that it’s time to check your email, you’re sure to love how simple it is to access and read.

Atmail Screenshot 3 - Email

The calendar is an organizer’s dream with options to make some information public, keep other information private, and easily identify personal or family commitments and business commitments at a glance.

Atmail Screenshot 4 - Calendar

The Good: Easy to Use and Personalize The Bad: Not the Right Choice for All

AtMail is a fairly simple product to use. This means that it won’t take a large amount of time to train team members and support staff to use the system. More importantly, the organizational aspect of this particular email program may actually help your team become more productive and profitable. That’s the real reason businesses are interested in programs such as this in the first place.

Also worth note is the exceptional customer service you can expect when doing business with AtMail before and after the sale. That’s a rarity in this day and age by itself. Not only does AtMail offer sales tickets that allow you to ask detailed questions about their services, but they also allow you to explore their own Wiki page that explains a great deal about what AtMail is and what their products and services have to offer before you even become a member.

However, it should be noted that this is not the right solution for all businesses. Large businesses may find AtMail somewhat cumbersome or restrictive where small and medium sized businesses are more likely to see broader appeal.

Pricing: Will It Fit Your Budget?

Perhaps the best news about AtMail to small and mid-size business owners is that it is a budget-friendly product. While it is still a “per user” it’s not something that even a sole proprietor can’t afford.  It’s priced much lower than its nearest competitor on the market and offers more features. You don’t purchase the product outright. Instead, you purchase a yearly license that allows you one year of outstanding customer support and service.

Is It For You?

As I’ve mentioned before, AtMail isn’t the right solution for all businesses. I’ve yet to see a one-size-fits-all platform that works well for all businesses all the time. However, for medium and small businesses in need of greater efficiency and time/resource management, it’s hard to imagine going wrong by using AtMail for your email needs. Take advantage of the free trial and see how quickly AtMail has you ready to sign up for a longer-term commitment.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 3/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

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Speed Up Your Billing Process — Review of ChargeBee

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Chargebee ReviewRecurring billing can be a recurring headache for small businesses and new startups. One company has stepped in with automated billing and subscription services. Today I am reviewing ChargeBee, a company that is focusing on subscription and billing management. These tedious but essential jobs are not my strong point, tasks that many small Internet businesspeople don’t like. So this will be a very helpful review for me to do. Let’s get started.

Are You Spending Too Much Time On Billing?

ChargeBee can automate the entire billing cycle, from signup to invoices to collecting the money, even internationally. They make it easy to offer special promotions and various fee schedules. They provide an easy-to-use dashboard that gives you a current snapshot of users and revenue.

Relief For New Startups And Growing Companies

Letting ChargeBee handle the money end of your subscription billing and recurring payments means you have more time to concentrate on what you do well, which is run your business and deliver a good product. Do you want to introduce a new pricing plan but keep your old users at the original price? No problem! Do you hate dealing with card charges that fail? Let ChargeBee handle it.

Save Time, Let Experts Handle Your Subscription Billing

ChargeBee lets you offer your customers flexible billing dates, up-sells and coupons, all of which makes happy customers who spend more. ChargeBee makes it easy to send email notifications for sales, end of trial period and renewals.

When you are trying to figure out what to offer your customers, you can test it and work out the bugs in ChargeBee’s test environment before any notifications are sent out. They offer copy/paste code for payment pages. You can change the prices, give discounted fees and run special promotions without the need of a developer.

If you do have in-house developers, they will love ChargeBee, which is at home with numerous computer languages and provides copy/paste code for payment pages.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Here is the dashboard for ChargeBee. You get a practical snapshot of current revenue and subscribers.

Chargebee Review

You can check over your users on this screen.

ChargeBee Review

Here you see how it easy it is to check over the plans that you are offering your subscribers.

ChargeBee Review

It’s easy to see what coupons are currently available.

ChargeBee Review

Automation Takes The Headache Out Of Billing

The best feature of ChargeBee is the fact that you don’t have to worry about the nuts and bolts of how to bill your subscribers, how to offer special deals, how to handle credit card problems and international billing. ChargeBee automates it and offers expert advice to you.

ChargeBee can also transact via multiple gateways. As an example, businesses using PayPal can de-risk dependency on one processor by signing up with Stripe / BraintreePayments (available in Europe too) and process via multiple processors without any additional effort or money. They don’t charge extra to have this extra feature.

In terms of integration, ChargeBee recently released a Mailchimp integration to send newsletters and they are planning a SalesForce CRM integration to be released soon.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

ChargeBee offers a free trial. If you like the service, you pay a monthly fee plus a charge for each transaction. Support is offered in a substantial KnowledgeBase, video tutorials, forum, plus online and phone support.

Is It For You?

If you are a subscriber-based small to medium size online business, ChargeBee can simplify your monthly billing. In addition is makes it easy to offer personalized promotions  that increase sales and customer satisfaction. We also like the fact that they have a free sandbox environment with demo data, to explore the solution and find out if the product meets the business needs.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Simplifies billing and promotions"  cons= "None that I can Identify " score=9]

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Design Without The Designer Price Tag — Review of The PDF Chef

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PDF Chef reviewThough it is easy enough to put a document into PDF format, making it look interesting costs you either money to hire a designer or time to figure out how to get the business graphics and type arranged well. Thankfully, the The PDF Chef offers an alternative.

Tired Of Designer Fees And Long Learning Curves?

The PDF Chef lets you design attention grabbing documents for print or posting on the web. Use its  templates or create your own. Choose images from its fee-based library or import ones you already have. The design is simple and intuitive requiring no technical skills. The process is quick to figure out so you’re not spending all day putting together your document.

Great For Online And Print Documents

If you regularly produce newsletters, brochures or flyers for print, The PDF Chef is for you. You can create distinctive documents to publish online, on smartphones and tablets. Pretty much every business needs to product marketing collateral, so any business can use this service successfully.

Save Money, Time And Frustration

The interface is easy to learn and uses drag and drop. It’s all automated and geared to the rank beginner. Because it is free in design-mode, you can experiment with numerous designs to find what works best. Try that when you’re paying a designer! You can save documents and templates for ongoing updates.

Graphics and fonts are a snap. You have access to their fee-based image library or you can import your own. Don’t know how to crop a picture? The image editor makes suggestions for cropping. The PDF Chef has a large library of fonts and will also let you upload special ones of your own. You have total control of size and positioning.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

From the dashboard you choose either a new document or a template and then move to Content Mode where you select the picture panel or the word panel. Adding elements is quick and easy with drag and drop.

PDF Chef Review

To find images, click on Image Gallery. Here you can search for photos and clipart to illustrate your document. These are all free to use while you design your document. The cost is clearly shown if you want to use it in the final version.

PDF Chef Review

The Image Editor makes it easy to crop photos. It tells you if the graphic is the wrong size and makes suggestions for cropping.

PDF Chef Review

 In Design Mode you play around with placement and the graphics, finding what works to get your message across.

PDF Chef Review

It’s Fun, Easy and Fast!

The PDF Chef eliminates the need to learn complex design software. This cloud-based tool makes it possible for the absolute beginner to sit down and design an effective, attention-grabbing document quickly, without a long learning curve.

The image library has over 19 millions photos and graphics for an additional fee. However it is simple to upload your own. If you do use of theirs, they are upfront about what you will pay.

The ability to use the design mode for free means you can play around to your heart’s content with possible approaches to your document, giving you plenty of time to get the input of others involved. Documents can be updated quickly and templates can be saved for future use.

The tutorials cover all the basics plus advanced skills like adding shapes, creating a template and posting the document to a Facebook page. The wiki and forum provide answers to a wide range of questions. Anything not covered can be handled by emailing support.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

The PDF Chef offers several fee choices. The monthly subscription becomes quarterly automatically if you choose to continue. The yearly option is by far the best deal. They charge nothing if you just want to try a design. Only when you are ready to publish do you need to decide on a subscription choice.

Is It For You?

If you create documents for print or publish on the web even occasionally, The PDF Chef is worth checking out. The savings in design fees alone makes it a good investment. In addition it is easy for anyone to pick up. If you have documents that you update regularly, it makes it easy.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Fun, Fast, and Simple to Use" cons= "Can't think of anything that makes it a con " score=9]

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Eliminate Paper Without Losing The Trail — Review of Turbine

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TurbineHQ review

Every single business, no matter how big or small has paperwork. Pretty much all businesses have purchase orders, expense reports, performance appraisals, and more.

TurbineHQ was created because of Matthew Stibbe’s, CEO of Turbine, personal experiences running a company in the 90s with 70 people and way too many forms. He sold the business in 2000, but he always wondered how could he make that type of thing better with software. He wanted to “take the work out of paperwork”.

Eventually, he started a successful marketing company and decided he had to solve the problem of too many forms and bureaucracy without reinventing the wheel. So he built an online software application called Turbine.

Today I review Turbine to see if he accomplished his goal.

No Job Is Complete Until You Finish The Paperwork

All businesses have paperwork. This paperwork gets more intensive the more employees the business has. There is paperwork each time an employee wants to buy something, request time off, or get feedback for a job well done. Email can be used, as can PDF documents, but having everything in one place where it can be tracked, organized, and accessed by every member of the team is truly priceless.

Any Small Business With Employees Can Benefit From Turbine

As mentioned earlier, Turbine was created so that small businesses can manage online tasks that normally require paperwork, such as purchase orders, time off requests, expense claims, employee evaluations, feedback and more. Any business with employees who need to manage these aspects of their business can benefit from Turbine.

As Stibbe puts it, “I wanted to avoid every company spending days and weeks doing these same things that all companies have to do. I think if companies use Turbine they can save themselves money and time. I can’t promise to abolish all this paperwork, but I can make it easier, faster and more sympathetic. I mean, at the end of the day , nobody on their deathbed wishes they spent more time filling out forms”.

Small Businesses With Paperwork Need Turbine

If you do appraisals, purchase orders, purchase requests, time off requests, yearly evaluations, or need to file expense reports, which you probably do, then Turbine works simply and easily to accomplish these tasks without having to know code, or even be at a certain computer. The software is cloud based, so you can use it from your PC or other devices, such as your mobile phone.

For example, if an employee is out to dinner with a client, and wants to file an expense report, he or she can just snap a photograph of the receipt and send it straight to the system to be filed rather than waiting until they get back to the office. Similarly, they can make a time off request on a Sunday night using their iPad and their manager can approve it on the train to work the following morning on his or her smartphone.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Turbine is customizable for your business. You can upload your own logo, and make it integrate seamlessly with the way your business works. The interface is responsive, designed superbly, and efficient.

When you first sign in, you’ll see the dashboard. On the left you’ll see the various features offered such as Time off, Purchases, Expenses, Appraisals, Feedback, and Messages. You can be customize the name of your business, your logo and you can turn on and off features so that you can make the software your own.

TurbineHQ Review

This is a sample view of purchases, where you can create purchase orders. An employee can be pre-approved for various amounts without approval. It can be set up so that an email is sent automatically to the managers that need to approve a purchase order. All that is configured via the admin settings feature.

turbinehq review

Below is a view of creating a purchase order. Remember, you will be able to set this up in many different ways according to your wishes. These images are only examples.

TurbineHQ Review

What’s Good About It?  What’s Bad About It?

Turbine is simple to use and implement. You don’t need to know any code, or have any special computer skills. Turbine leads you through the setup process without any specialized knowledge about any aspect of coding. Simply click on settings to set up each area that you plan to use with your business. You can use as much or as little of Turbine as you want with a simple tick of a box.

I honestly can’t think of anything bad about Turbine. The interface is easy to use, intuitive, and simple. It works fast, and it works well. When trying to eliminate too much paperwork it’s exactly what a small business needs. However, it still offers the opportunity to download PDFs, and CSV spreadsheet files when needed. You can also provide a link to purchase orders to businesses that you deal with electronically with a simple link in your email. The reason the program is so good is that the creator actually uses it himself in his business. Therefore, it will work well for you too.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

The pricing structure (as of this writing) starts at $8 ($5 / €6) per month in total for up to five users and increases in line with the number of users up to $99 (£59 / €69) for up to 250 users. The price is for the whole company, not per user.

Every plan gives you access to all features of Turbine giving every level of service the same full featured functionality. If you have more employees than the largest plan, 250, then they’re delighted to talk to you personally about meeting your needs.

Is It For You?

Every business with employees has paperwork. Every manager and employee wants to save time and money handling that paperwork. In addition, handling the paperwork needs to be seamless and simple for everyone to understand. Remember, time is money, so any time you can save doing daily tasks will result in a monetary savings. Even if you purchased the most expensive plan, you’re going to save money due to the time you save handling these basic paperwork needs that all businesses with employees have. I believe that Turbine has accomplished the goal of  “taking the work out of paperwork”!

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Elegant and useful solution that will end your paperwork nightmares"  cons= "The only con is that you must have employees to need it" score=10]

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What Apps Are Needed To Create A Successful Etsy Business

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Apps for EtsyEtsy is an awesome and busy place in which you can buy and sell handmade items. Thousands of business minded crafters, artists, and creative people use the platform to sell their products. Most are handmade but some are vintage items and supplies for crafters. Etsy has a great set up that is easy to understand, however, there are definitely applications that you can use to be more successful if you want to start an Etsy business.

All businesses have similar needs such as accounting needs, financial needs, marketing needs, inventory needs, communication needs and more in order to be successful. The following apps and services give you an answer to most of your business needs to make your Etsy business super successful.

Outright.com –  This is a wonderful accounting program that automates much if not most of your accounting process by connecting with your bank accounts, Etsy Direct Check Out and Paypal account in order to eliminate a lot of data entry normally associated with bookkeeping. What’s more is that it’s recommended by Etsy to help you keep your business organized.

Run Inventory –  With this application you can manage your Etsy inventory very simply, you just supply your Etsy ID at sign up and Run Inventory takes care of the rest! They also have awesome step-by-step videos to help you.

Kabbage.com — A way to borrow money to help your business grow. They have a partnership with Etsy which enables you to get money if you qualify to grow your business faster.

Aweber.com — Use Aweber to automatically add people who pay by PayPal to your mailing list, then you can thank them for their orders automatically, and use the nifty blog broadcast tool on Aweber and your ETSY feed to tell buyers when you add a new product! This is an excellent way to keep your business in the mind of your buyers.

WordPress.org – This is an awesome and simple and free application that enables you to quickly build a website to promote your Etsy business. Even if you don’t really know totally what you’re doing you can figure out WordPress.org. It’s also simple to find professionals who can build your site for you for as low as $500.00.

Stamps.com — The US Postal Service is set up to help your small business with all your shipping needs. You can print postage right on your computer, pay electronically via credit card, and that’s it. You can get a scale, boxes and many tools delivered right to your home or business address.

Use Etsy’s Apps — They have a great app that lets you put your store on Facebook, plus many other useful applications that are very simple to set up. Use everything Etsy has to offer to make your shop stand out from the others. There is a lot to choose from, but you can discuss it on the forums Etsy provides to their sellers.

Social Media — Use all your social media to stand out. A lot of times people love seeing your crafty and artistic process. Try filming a video and putting it on YouTube.com, then Facebook it and Tweet it, don’t forget to send it to your newsletter subscribers via Aweber so that it is shared with everyone, and watch the huge response. When people see the work that goes in to creating something wonderful they’ll be more likely to pay more for it.
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Why It Is Time To Get Your Business Plan Done

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Small Business PlanCreating a business plan is the first step to starting a successful business. I stress the word “successful” because it’s a proven fact that people who have a plan, even when they modify it as time goes on, are more successful than those without a plan. Having a business plan shows how serious you are, lays out short and long term milestones, helps you understand your competition, and your customers. It’s a document of how you will make money, determines your financial needs, and attracts investors.

The process of writing a business plan isn’t really that hard. In fact, it can be a very interesting to learn about your competition and discover issues you may not have considered before you started writing it. During the process you’ll source product, software, and all supplies, services and needs that you may not have thought about before without doing a business plan. Luckily there are applications that can help you with your business plan. I highly recommend you check out the various programs, read the reviews, and pick something to assist you.

The main components of a business plan are as follows, but keep in mind you can skip over some of them if they do not apply to your situation. However, try to be as complete as possible because the more thorough you are the better your results will be.

  • Executive Summary — This can be as small as a paragraph or as long as two pages. This is usually written after the rest of the business plan is written and is essentially a summary of your entire plan.
  • Business Overview – This section will include problem you will solve, your unique selling point, your companies mission statement, values and actual products you will sell.
  • Environment Overview — Discussion of the marketplace, who your customers are, who is your competition and how you will differentiate yourself. Essentially it’s a SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) overview.
  • Description of your Business — Describe everyone who is starting the business and include people you know who will be employees. What makes you (as a group) capable and perfect for performing the business you plan to start successfully?
  • Strategic Overview — This section is a point by point discussion of what you want to achieve. Use the SWOT to mention every aspect of what you’ll do over time in every aspect of your business: Management, Technology, Marketing, Growth, Human Resources, Accounting and so forth.
  • Financial Overview — This includes all your financial statements, along with a summary of where you stand today financially and where you plan to be for the short term and long term.
  • Tactical Overview — Using your strategic plan, this section describes the exact steps you’ll take to meet your goals.

Some businesses need a huge binder or several binders for their entire business plan, but many small businesses can write their business plan in a few pages. The important thing is that you understand why you should write a business plan, and do it now. It is because you take your business seriously and want to be successful. Anytime you take a trip, you can’t be fully successful without a map to get you there. Your business plan is your road-map to success.

 

Let us know your success story with your business plan. Or maybe you came across obstacles when writing it? We would love to hear from you!

 

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Answer Your Customers Questions Right When They Have Them — Userlike Live Chat Review

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Userlike ReviewGetting answers as soon as possible as a customer is a wonderful thing, being able to deliver those answers as a small business, is priceless.

I checked out Userlike, live chat software for websites and iOS apps. I know if I have a question about a product and can’t find the answer quickly, I simply move on. I always like sites that have live chat so I can ask someone right away. I’ve purchased more products each time I get an answer right away. I checked out the features on Userlike.com and here’s what I found.

Answer Customer Questions When They’re On Your Site

For customers the problem is getting questions answered when they are at the online store, not later. For the Internet shop owner, the problem is finding software that isn’t too expensive, looks professional and isn’t complicated to install. It’s also nice if the chat box looks like a natural part of the web page.

For service employees it is important to have software that is flexible, making it easy to answer questions quickly by guiding the customer requests to the right person.

Online Stores Want Chat Software That Keeps Customers Happy And Increases Conversions

Userlike was developed out of a market gap spotted by Timoor and David. Timoor, an ecommerce entrepreneur, wasn’t happy with what was available on the market. He wanted a software that was affordable, that looked professional, and that was easy to use. Together with David they set out to develop a software that fulfilled these criteria. As one happy customer, VS-Elektro puts it: “we are regularly selling products over the chat. We love it and so do our customers.”

Userlike Is Reasonably Priced, Easy To Operate And Looks Professional

With Userlike you can chat with customers right at the moment they have a question, when you have the chance to make a sale. Once a visitor leaves, he might never come back. Installation is quick. In the words of one satisfied custom: “installation and configuration process is a breeze.” The site provides easy-to-understand tutorials to help with customizing. The service is available in a number of languages.

The interface is very comfortable for the customer to use. It is integrated right into your website so it looks like an integral part of it. You can even add your own logo.

It’s simple for a chat operator can pass an inquiry to another operator so that questions go to the customer service person who handles that particular request. It’s easy to group operators into departments for specific topics.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Here is a screenshot of the chat administrator’s dashboard, as you see, all the information available in one spot.

 

 

Here is a picture of a chat session with a service person’s photo, a great way to make the service more personal.

 Administrators can locate operators through this panel.

 

Userlike makes it easy to check chat stats.

 

Operators can pass chats back and forth to get the right answer quickly.

Userlike Review

Userlike Is Easy To Use For Both The Customer And The Chat Operator

Userlike’s biggest plus is its ease of use. The customer has a professional and attractive looking chat window that’s a natural part of the web page. A chat operator can easily move the session to the right person without any fuss. It is even possible to group your operators into departments to make it easy to guide chats to the right person. The result is a happy customer who gets answers to her questions and the moment that they come up.

Administrators love how simple Userlike software makes it to install and customize. Userlike can be integrated with Zendesk and a long list of other CRM tools. Chats can be answered from any smart phone with a mobile IM client.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Userlike has a 14-day free trial that requires no credit card. They have three pricing tiers geared to small, medium and large businesses, as well as a free version with a limited amount of chats. You get a discount by signing up for a six- or twelve-month package. Userlike offers chat and phone support, plus an extensive library of tutorials and a FAQ.

Is It For You?

Whether it is to offer support or to sell your products proactively, Userlike is a great tool for any business where the website plays a central role. Stay in touch with customers at the moments that they need an answer. It is easy for you to administer and flexible to use for your operators.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5


[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Professional looking, easy to use and useful" cons= "No Android Yet " score=9]

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Save Money And Time By Making Better Use Of The Tools You Already Have — Review Of Help Scout

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Helpscout Review

As a small business owner providing that personal touch is so important in helping you stand out from the “big guys”, but using a support system that can scale with your growing customer base is also needed so that you can continue to make excellent support a consistent part of your business.

I often find that, although help desk software can be really handy in this regard, most of it is far too complicated, and takes forever to set up. Worst of all, it often doesn’t play nice with the other key pieces of software that help you run your business, or comes with a bloated feature sets that you never use.

The problems don’t end there. Your customers are stuck with having  to open an account and writing  a new ticket before they ever get a hold of someone from your team. With the canned responses that often power these other help desks, your buyers feel more like a number waiting in line than a valued customer. With Help Scout however, they feel like they are getting a personal email from you.

Since I already covered some of the main aspects of Help Scout, today I am going to focus on third party integration and other new features.

If you read that review, you’ll see how Help Scout helps you create a personalized service process by maintaining a collaborative experience for your team, but stays invisible to customers so that they only see plain text replies from a “real person”.

Today, you’ll get to look at how Help Scout is making it easier for small business owners to solve customer problems while integrating seamlessly with their existing chat and CRM products.

Too Much Software, Too Much To Learn, Not Enough “Help” In Help Desk Software

All help desk software runs the risk of being way too complicated, way too bloated and far too impersonal for the customers using it.

The problem is, if you have several people handling support, you need a way to coordinate responses, and at a certain volume, Gmail inboxes and complex filter sets no longer work.  You’ll end up with emails slipping through the cracks or customers getting multiple responses for the same  inquiry. What’s worse, it’s hard to find help desk tools that work with your current products, andit’s expensive to keep buying new ones.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to integrate a good help desk with what you already own and use?

Help Scout To The Rescue

As a business owner you already have enough on your plate. Help Scout has stepped in with software that is easy to use, provides a personal experience for the customer and integrates with a number of the products that you already use e.g., software for customer relationship management, chat, group chat, IM and/or satisfaction rating software. As a bonus, it also provides real time notifications with Webhooks. Users can subscribe to events and post them to a URL for their app. In addition, they’ve launched keyboard shortcuts and a new more user-friendly text editor.

Save Money And Time By Using The Products You Already Have

According to Denny Swindle, co-founder and CTO of Help Scout, “We built Apps to help small businesses improve their support work-flow by plugging in to the products they already use and love. With Apps, every customer interaction can be visible within Help Scout, making it easy for the entire company to engage loyal customers.”

Help Scout provides one-click integration with Highrise, Capsule, SnapEngage, Olark, HipChat, Campfire, Nicereply, Hively and Webhooks for real-time notifications.

Help Scout  is the answer to the dangers of impersonal email support responses. Your customer never gets hit with a “ticket” nor do they have to open  an account of any kind. That first email is all it takes to start communication.

At the administrative end it’s simple to see who is viewing the email in real-time, avoiding the chance of two people responding to the same message. You can always see the customer profile and the query history at the click of a button.. Each support person can add notes and hold conversations with others that the customer can’t see. In-house communication is easy and efficient and never interferes with helping your customers.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Here is a typical help desk conversation with Help Scout. Remember these are representative screen shots, yours will look different based on how you set it up.

Helpscout Review

You can save chat from apps like SnapEngage and Olark in Help Scout.

Helpscout Review

You can get a look at the customer profile from Highrise, Capsule and other CRM software.

Helpscout  Review

 

Help Scout saw a huge improvement in its own support statistics using the Highrise app.

HelpScout Review

Help Scout Lets You Use What You Have And Make It Even Better

Help Scout by itself is awesome help desk software, as I mentioned in my other review: it’s easy to install, customer friendly and simple to use for the people in your business who answer customer questions. Beyond that, Help Scout lets you use software in which you have already invested time and money into, which makes it a no-brainer to add to your arsenal of tools to better serve your customers.  It supports many CRM, chat, IM and satisfaction rating packages. In fact it extends their usefulness and makes you and your support system more productive.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Help Scout has a free 15-day trial with no credit card needed. The subscription plan is monthly and based on the number of users. In addition it has the Free Forever Plan for three users with one mailbox. Emails are Help Scout branded with this choice. However, you’ll still get the same fabulous customer service from Help Scout whether you’re a free user or a paid subscriber via email, chat and phone.

Is It Right For You?

If you run a small business, Help Scout is the answer to your customer support woes. If you view customer support and word of mouth marketing generated from superior service as a “must have” for your business, you won’t find help desk software as personal, streamlined and easy to use as Help Scout.

You can keep using the CRM, chat, IM or satisfaction rating software you already have while integrating the awesome features of Help Scout (basically, you don’t have to change what you’re doing at all!)

In short, Help Scout turns customer support from a headache to a pleasure.  If your small business loves customers, then you’ll love Help Scout.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5


[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Awesome integration with other apps"  cons= "Still want a smaller paid version" score=9]

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A CRM Designed for Nonprofit & Associations — NeonCRM Review

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Neon CRM reviewConfusion is common with the volunteer organizations I belong to. That’s why I was interested to review NeonCRM by Z2 Systems, Inc.  They say they can offer nonprofit organizations and associations an easy-to-use, accessible platform to house all of their most important information about their members, donors, event attendees, Board members, and volunteers in one system.  The system allows staff and constituents the ability to interact, organize, donate, join, renew, sign up, purchase and anything else you might want in your online platform. Let’s see how it works.

Knowing What Your “People” Are Doing

NeonCRM is a Constituent Relationship Management system, or CRM. Most nonprofits and associations have trouble tracking donor or member activity and involvement because the organization is working off three to five different databases, all independent of each other.   This means that different types of data about the same people who contribute or interact with your organization may be scattered between several systems making it is hard to see the full, 360-degree view of all of their involvement.  The  NeonCRM consolidates the traditional silo-based “donor database”, “membership database”,  ”event database”, “online store”, “email communications” system, and more into one system where all of a nonprofit organization or association’s data resides. Information about all aspects of the nonprofit is consolidated into one system and easily available.

In other words, within one NeonCRM, clients can track donors, event attendees, volunteers, members, and store purchases.  Plus the system allows you to send mass emails, automate system email responses, process real-time payments, pull reports and it even integrates payment pages with the client website to feed the data into NeonCRM instantly.  NeonCRM can be considered as an all-in-one “People Database” because there an organization probably has people who may be long-time members, have donated multiple times, possibly volunteered in the past, and attended the major event each year. With NeonCRM, you can pull up one person’s record and see all of this 360-degree activity/involvement on one record.

Turn Your Donation and Membership Transactions Into Individuals, Help Them Feel Connected

Any nonprofit or association that wants to make it easy for donors, volunteers, members and employees to communicate can benefit from NeonCRM. You can track how much individuals donate, how often they attend events, whether they have been a Gold Member for 10 years, if they open your emails, what other people in the database they have relationships with, or if they sit on the Board of a certain committee. This lets staff personalize outreach to donors, members, attendees and volunteers. The more information you have about these individuals, the better you can reach out in a personal way. The more they feel a connection to your nonprofit, the more active they become. That’s easier to achieve when all the information about them is in one place.

A CRM Should Contribute to Your Revenue

Bill Bro, President and CEO of The Kidney Cancer Association, offered that testimonial to the effectiveness of NeonCRM. He went on to say, “The NeonCRM is the single best investment our organization has made in technology. Any Charity that is considering improving how it interfaces with donors and other constituents would do well to consider NeonCRM.”  The bottom line for any nonprofit is raising the money to do their work. The NeonCRM system has a track record of helping them do just that.  Adopting NeonCRM in 2004, the Kidney Cancer Association even increased their operating budget by 4-fold and continues to streamline their operations year to year.

The platform offers integrated online forms and mobile-ready forms that match the exact look-and-feel of a nonprofit’s website.  They even offer organizations the ability to track and monitor activity on their NeonCRM online forms using their own Google Analytics account.  At the core of any good CRM database, NeonCRM offers many ways to track and analyze donations, membership join/renewal, event revenue, and any type of incoming revenue. It handles events, ticketing, sessions for workshops and calendars.

NeonCRM also offers a constituent login portal, that allows constituents to manage their profile, addresses and transactions.  It even allows organizations to offer exclusive access to members by creating restricted member content, membership directories, event discounts, and log-ins for volunteers, members and donors.

NeonCRM offers your staff and administrators one-click reports on just about any aspect of the nonprofit, plus organizations can pull any type of custom report with a user-friendly querying interface that allows for in-depth data extraction across the system. Organizations can communicate to their people with a built-in email system, track it in a number of ways and use mail merge and merge queue as well. Accounting will appreciate the fact that it integrates with QuickBooks and the custom reporting allows financial data to be exported to work with any accounting platform’s import methods. Organizations can even open an online store and control tax, shipping, handling, downloads and discounts. Staff can keep track of volunteers with applications, mileage and other expense forms and time tracking.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Here is an example of an overview Dashboard showing information about a client’s account activity.  Here you can see charts and clickable tables to see exactly what type of records make up an organization’s constituency.

Neon CRM Review

 

Here is a quick view of the Constituent Login Portal where your donors, members and volunteers can manage their own personal account, transactions and more.  Every page behind this login will also copy over the organization’s look and feel of the website.

Neon CRM Review

 

Now to the website integration.

Here is an example of a donation page that is fully integrated into the Health in Harmony website and is connected to  the NeonCRM platform.  All of the information entered on the form will automatically feed into the NeonCRM and the transaction will occur in real-time, even allowing for scheduled recurring donations if the donor prefers.  The client’s website look and feel is maintained from entry to exit after payment

Neon CRM Review

Here is a view of the Pennsylvania Parks & Forests membership application. Though it is a natural part of that group’s website, the NeonCRM system is managing the database and all of the start dates, renewal dates, auto email reminders and more.  Tasks that used to take much IT department coordination and many staff members to achieve are now being automatically performed by the NeonCRM.

Neon CRM Review

 

Standard forms are included with the system plus you can use the custom form builder for surveys, membership voting and other special needs.

NeonCRM Is Easy To Use And Customize

NeonCRM makes tracking your donors, members, and volunteers easy, allowing staff to see them as individuals. They in turn feel a sense of personal connection and have a stake in the organization. Since the platform is cloud-based, it is easy to access from any device connected to the internet. The interface is simple to learn and has a variety of modules to fit your organization’s specific needs.

Videos for training and basic online support are part of all packages. Premium live chat and phone support are extra.

What About Integrations ?

NeonCRM has direct integrations with MailChimp, an email platform, in case your organization wants to choose from many wonderful newsletter templates.  It is also integrated with QuickBooks for pushing transactions to their accounting software automatically or in batch.  Plus, NeonCRM is integrated with 5 payment processing vendors, allowing the client to choose their credit card processor and save on transaction processing.

Lastly, they will be releasing an API in early 2013 that will allow nonprofits to further integrate with any system in order to pull important data back to the “central database” which is NeonCRM.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Fees are monthly and based on the number of constituent records (ie, how many members, donors, attendees, volunteers, etc you are tracking). There is a fee structure for choosing modules a la carte and another for all-in-one. There are also some additional one-time fee options available for other premium services to further expand the integration and functionality of the system.  Most organizations will find the price to be affordable considering everything that the system offers in one place.

Is It For You?

If your nonprofit or association wants an easy way to track and communicate with each other and with your all-important donors and volunteers, NeonCRM is a good place to look.  It can easily become a natural part of your existing website and the deep database functionality allows your staff to work much more efficiently on a day-to-day basis. NeonCRM makes it simple to connect personally with your constituents, building a family of donors for your nonprofit or to grow your member-base without creating a ton of manual entry and tasks for your staff.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Makes membership management easier"  cons= "Only handles one dedicated currency" score=9]

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A Great App that Helps Keep Everyone Organized — Review of Hello Scheduling

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hello scheduling reviewToday’s technology has given us a number of ways to keep communications open between employee and employer, it can be quite confusing.

Using Hello Scheduling keeps everything in one place so there are no misunderstandings. When everyone is up-to-date with what is going on and organized, things get done much more efficiently.

No More Schedule Mix-ups

Unless your business runs on a 9 to 5, Monday through Friday schedule, keeping everyone informed of when they are supposed to be at work can be a nightmare. With Hello Scheduling, the schedule is kept online for everyone to see. There is no need to call the office to check when you work next or who is supposed to be working. The program can repeat a schedule for the next pay period if you want it to with ease.

Hello Scheduling Is Perfect For Any Business With Employees

It does not matter if you have two employees or 100; Hello Scheduling can help you keep track of the schedule. It not only keeps track of the work schedule, but will set up breaks and create payroll reports so you can track your labor costs.

Notify Employees Of Work Schedules Instantly

As a schedule is made or adjusted, it is sent to the people on it by email and text message. It stays online and accessible by all employees for the duration of the schedule. No one can say they did not know when they were supposed to work. The system keeps track of breaks and hors worked so doing payroll is easy.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

It is quite easy to see what is going on with a glance. The system uses color coding on a typical agenda page. Simple mouse clicks will have you adding to or changing the schedule as needed. It is easy to change the way the reports look too. Decide which fits your needs best and set them to be delivered that way.

Time Sheet View

hello scheduling review

Text Message View

hello scheduling review

Employee Break Calendar

hello scheduling review

Auto Schedule View

hello scheduling review

Communication Integration And Payroll Reports

Instead of having to go to a separate email system, Hello Scheduling allows you to send emails to any or all your employees or send them a text message without using your phone. All your communication needs can be handled from within the program. It also handles all your scheduling and payroll reporting. When an employee asks for time off, you can program it right away so you do not forget. Employees can request it in the system, giving you a chance to see what is going on at the time and approve or deny it. It is also possible for them to request a swap with another employee. Any time there is a change to the schedule you can receive a text message alerting you. If you are a small business, with less than 60 employees, you do not receive the payroll and time sheet sections.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Hello Scheduling is billed according to how many employees you are scheduling. You do not have time sheets and payroll capabilities unless you have 60 employees or pay for that service. At 100 employees you have added phone support instead of only email support. The fees are monthly and are discounted if you pay for a whole year.

Is It For You?

Big corporations have a payroll department to handle payroll and managers and assistants to take care of scheduling. In most cases they also have a number of part-time employees ready to fill in when someone calls out or takes vacation so there is not overtime being paid. Hello Scheduling takes care of all the drone work involved with making sure you have enough people working and are not paying too much for payroll. It would be very helpful to any small business. Check out the free trial and see how much time and trouble it saves you.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Awesome way to schedule employees"  cons= "Need employees to use it " score=8]

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13 Terrific Apps For Usability Experts

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Usability AppsIn a survey about user experience, conducted by Compuware, results show that a bad web experience will drive 46 percent of tablet users to competitive web sites and 33 percent are less likely to purchase from that company. That means for businesses that run a website that the work of a usability expert can be critical for the success of the enterprise. When a user experience professional is testing a new software product or a new website, handy apps for usability experts can make the job go faster, let him dig deeper and remember the details. Here’s a quick overview of a few that may help you.

  • Moqups is a terrific free app for designing prototypes, wireframes, user interfaces and, well, mock-ups. Using easy drag and drop, the interface looks like graphing paper. It has more than sixty scalable vector graphic stencils, smart-guides, auto-save and the ability to upload images. You can export as a PDF, PNG or simply email it.

 

  • Pivotal Tracker uses an agile environment for software development. It’s dynamic, everyone on the team can view the bigger picture to get a look at how the project is going in real time. Team members provide their stories for the backlog and Tracker predicts the completion date and the milestones leading up to it. It simplifies prioritizing tasks and gives you realistic time estimates.

 

  • Using boards and cards, Trello lets you and your collaborators see where you are on a project. It’s a simple and powerful visual system for a list of tasks, a project, or a process. Just a glance at the board or the card lets you know how the project is coming along and who is working on what.

 

  • Basecamp keeps you organized simply and intuitively. You don’t need to know any special web skills. It handles email, calendar entries, comments, all your tasks and scheduling. Invite who you want. Everyone can see what needs to be done and when. The dashboard makes it easy to monitor each part of the process so nothing gets missed.

 

  • Olark is a live chat application that lets you interact with visitors to your website using instant messengers from third parties. Installation is easy enough for non-techies. It blends in naturally with the site.

 

  • Evernote’s tagline is “Capture anything, access anywhere, find things fast.” Well, it’s true! Making notes is a breeze. Take a screen-shot with one-click, it’s easy to sync with other devices. Each project can have its own notebook. Saving is automatic and tags make it simple to find notes.

 

  • With Skype, you can have chats and video conferencing as well as phone calls. You can even share your desktop with a collaborator on another continent. Any sort of remote sharing is possible with Skype. Members of your group can drop in and out of your chat room. With an easy-to-use interface, it connects co-workers with each other and lets support stay in touch with customers.

 

  • A great way to manage the vacation time of your company’s employees is with TribeHR online software. It lets members of your group check who is working when, giving them a sense of participation in the decision making. It also automates a lot of the mundane tasks of employee tracking.

 

  • Hojoki lets you monitor all of your cloud based apps in one spot. As an example, you can establish a business workplace in Hojoki that handles Dropbox for file sharing, Trello for task lists, Google Calendar for scheduling and Google Drive for documents. Integrate whatever you are using in one easy-to-find spot, a single hub instead of a dashboard for each application. You can also use a cloud based system such as CloudWork that will integrate many programs and apps to make them work even harder for you.

 

  • Dropbox is perfect for people in different locations to work with the same set of files. Since it’s cloud-based, you can use any type of computer or mobile device. Any file in Dropbox is synchronized. It’s easy to use and a snap to install. Google Drive is similar to Dropbox and also simple to install and use. It has the advantage that all your Google Docs files will appear as soon as you sign in. It lets you check recently edited or opened files under the Recent tab. The search feature is very good.

 

  • Google Analytics is free and the industry standard for analyzing web traffic. It gives reports on every aspect of your site’s visitors. Using it regularly will let you make decisions to make your it more popular.

 

  • Kissmetrics (as in Keep It Simple Stupid) is a paid alternative. It lets you analyze visitors on the individual level, which can help figure out how to convert visitors to buyers.

 

As you can see, there are numerous usability tools out there for the busy expert, some fee-based and many with free versions. The best approach is to try them out and find which one help the most your project, product or website. Check with co-workers often because new tools are coming out all the time. Never forget to check at GetApp for cloud-based apps to use in every aspect of your business. It’s simple to do a search on our site, or to send us an email if you’re not sure what you need. We’re here to help!

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How To Increase Knowledge Sharing In Your Company

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Knowledge SharingWorkers in the cubicle culture tend to agree that face-to-face get-togethers are the single best way to share knowledge in a company. Some like the idea of weekly lunch meetings centered around a single idea as long as they are informal. One way is having a facilitator keep the topic gently in view by introducing the idea under consideration for the first five or ten minutes.

Others feel that just getting together for a brown bag lunch with no agenda works better because the topic always returns to the job and current issues affecting the group automatically. The important thing is to keep it casual, friendly, a time for socializing. Co-workers get to know each other at the same time they are throwing out nuggets of inspiration about the problem under discussion.

But, today with our ever increasing telecommuting culture, what do you do if the group is spread out over the country or even on different continents? Email seems to get a thumbs down in many companies. It is good for individual communication but off-putting for many. It’s very easy for emails to  get lost in translation. The big blocks of type usually needed to explain ideas tends to prompt people to hit the delete key. It works well one on one, but poorly for a group.

 

“To be effective, the method of exchanging information needs to reflect that.”

 

Basic intranets also don’t cut it either. What users want most in a site is an easy way to create content and a quick, simple and effective search tool that covers the entire community. They also have trouble feeling comfortable with the top-down and structured approach of most of these platforms. On their own information and ideas pop up all over and are seldom organized. Instead they feed off each new round of interplay. To be effective, the method of exchanging information needs to reflect that.

Online social knowledge sharing sites have stepped in to help spread information, conversations and problem solving. Bloomfire is one of the most popular. It was originally developed to help salespeople know the product they were expected to pitch. It can handle content in any form, whether documents, video or audio. They’ve put a lot of emphasis on the search capabilities.

This site is made to be searched, with the use of keywords, tags and categories. It has a question and answer capability for sharing intelligence. The dashboard makes it easy to find out who is active online and what people are interested in. You can set up sub-communities for hot topics.

Knoodle is a knowledge-sharing site that is centered on presentations. You upload a slide-show and add audio and any other multimedia that you like. Members can comment, like and edit. By adding surveys, ratings and discussion forums, you can get a real feel for what a group, which you define and invite, thinks about the information.

You can make sure salespeople or others have grasped the idea you’re trying to put across by adding a test. The ability to add methods of interacting makes learning and training friendly and inviting. The emphasis is on ease of use.

The developers made it simple for any worker in an organization to make a presentation because they feel that everyone is both learner and teacher. Compartmentalizing information inhibits sharing so they aimed to make it easy and quick.

Bloomfire and Knoodle are specifically designed for knowledge sharing. On the other hand, if it’s a specific project that you want to collaborate on, Podio is oriented toward accomplishing a particular task, whether project management, recruiting, or a special event. It offers a huge range of apps to customize the platform in line with your team’s needs. It’s easy to collaborate on tasks, share ideas and keep track of time-lines. It’s not a knowledge sharing platform as such, but uses those capabilities within the framework of project management.

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Make Online Learning Easy – Review of TalentLMS

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Talent LMS ReviewSetting up a learning course for your employees or customers is a lot of work.

TalentLMS feels it offers a simple way for you to develop a program of study and an attractive platform for your students to take it.

I’ve encountered some pretty ragged looking training sites when I’ve taken classes online. I’m looking forward to checking this out.

Setting Up A Course And Administering It Is Complex.

Coming up with the content of a course is hard enough. In addition you need to make it available on computers and mobile devices in a usable, appealing set-up. Figuring out which individuals are taking the training and if they are absorbing the content makes it a complicated job requiring several different talents.

Make Online Learning Easy To Set Up And Easy To Use.

If you offer online training to your employees, customers or other group members, you want a platform that makes it easy for you to set it up and easy for your students to access. You want to know who is taking the classes and how they are doing with learning it. The goal of the TalentLMS site is to bring simplicity and ease-of-use to the whole process.

Import The Information, Customize It, Track Your Students Easily.

TalentLMS (Learning Management System) lets you import from YouTube, Slideshare, Wikipedia and other sites. This simplifies getting the material for your course, letting you use what is already available. From the dashboard you set up the information in libraries of files. It’s easy to change the appearance of any element of the course from the theme label on the dashboard.

TalentLMS is cloud-based and the courses function naturally on mobile devices as well as on computers. It lets you check how your students are doing with tests that you can set up and re-use in a variety of ways. You can ask for input from your learners via surveys. On completion you can offer certification.

It’s easy to get one click statistics and reports from the dashboard. You can create any number of categories of students and control the content each has access to. The platform lets you create branches of the main course, each under your control but with its own URL, theme and users.

The dashboard lets you keep track of progress for each user individually. Reports are available on each user, groups, courses, tests and more.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

This screen shot shows how easy it is to choose and import a YouTube video.

TalentLMS review

Building the course is easy using files in a library that you create.

TalentLMS Review

You can check your users and what they are doing easily from the dashboard.

TalentLMS Review

You can make each course look just the way your want from the theme label in the dashboard.

TalentLMS Review

TalentLMS knows many students use mobile devices.

TalentLMS Review

Reports in several forms are easy to check from the dashboard.

TalentLMS Review

Easy To Set Up, Easy To Administer, Easy To Take The Course

TalentLMS saw how complex it can be to prepare and administer an online course. They are targeting users looking for ease of use for them and for their students. One happy customer summed it up as “no distraction, full concentration. Good balance in beauty, simplicity and efficiency.”

Importing files of all types is trouble-free. It is simple to change the appearance of a course, to interact with students and check stats. The learner has a good experience from any device. If you want ease of use, TalentLMS is worth a look.

Support is available from video tutorials, FAQs, a Knowledge Base plus online help.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

TalentLMS offers a free plan good for five users and ten courses requiring no credit card for sign up. They offer monthly paid subscriptions for larger groups depending on the number of users and courses. You can upgrade or downgrade easily.

Is It For You?

If you are looking for a service that makes it easy to create and administer courses that are attractive and convenient for students using computers or mobile devices, TalentLMS is worth investigating. Since they give you the chance to create up to ten courses, no strings attached, you have a chance to thoroughly test its features to see how it would work for your group.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="simple, easy, yet beautiful"  cons= "none " score=9.5]

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7 Awesome Apps For Savvy Lawyers

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Apps for LawyersLawyers have access to incredible technology today. Today, many lawyers file paperwork electronically via court websites, rather than take them physically over to the court house, and even they schedule court time via the Internet today. With the advent of the iPad and cloud computing technology, there are even more things that a lawyer can do from a distance, and now, he or she doesn’t even have to be in the office around a personal computer.

If you’re unaware of this technology, I want to talk to you today about the various apps available for lawyers that use cloud technology. That means they only need a device with access to the Internet in order to do their job. This enables lawyers and legal assistants to get more work done faster, from many different locations. No longer are attorneys and their employees stuck to a computer and a desk, or forced to run back and forth to the court house to file papers on time.

  • Dropbox – This is a file sharing system that makes it super simple to share files with everyone, and back up a system in a secure environment. All files are automatically shared with those who are members of a folder, and it’s simple to share large files in this manner, no more clogged email. It’s also available on the iPad! 
  • Schedulicity –  This is an awesome appointment scheduling cloud based software for small businesses. Your customers, secretary, and you can book appointments with you online via the Internet. Subscriptions come with unlimited use of email, SMS texts and more. It includes a client database and marketing functions that can’t be beat. 
  • Invoicera–  Lawyers must track their time since they get paid hourly, so every phone call, ever action for each client should be tracked. Invoicera lets you do this with a few clicks. You’ll be able to track time and expenses easily, and then automatically send invoices that look professional with your logo. Plus, you can use the information and reporting functions to keep track of income and costs. 
  • LawRD– Specially created for law firms, LawRD provides law firms with reports on everything that they do. Time sheets, Matters, Contacts, Billing sheets, and reports can be made easily with LawRD. Since it’s created especially for law firms it’s already set up for use out of the box other than personalization for your law firm. 
  • Spideroak–  As a lawyer, your data is everything. It’s important to protect it with a system that truly works. Spideroak  for business is secure, easily integrated and configured to back up an retrieve files and share files from anywhere, instantly. Data loss prevention is at the top of the minds of savvy business professionals who have a lot of data, don’t make the mistake of not backing up and securing the data
  • 7Notes HD Premium —  This tool enables you to take handwritten notes with your iPad that you can convert to digital text.  You can also export documents by email, Dropbox, or direct upload and integrates with Evernote
  • AudioMemos — Turn your iPhone or iPad into an audio recorder. Most lawyers need to record interviews, and even their own notes rather than writing them, and this app does exactly what it says it will.

 

Adding these apps to your law firm business will increase productivity, bring you into the 21st century, and make your job that much easier. Time is money, and finding ways to make all these tasks easier to do will give you a fabulous return on your investment.

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Collaborate Effectively And Efficiently — Review Of Threads

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Threads reviewWorking with a group in which some are freelance, some are telecommuting, some working out of another office, can be confusing and frustrating.

As a freelancer, I am always on the lookout for an easy-to-use and accessible tool that helps a group connect.

Threads says it makes online collaboration simple. Let’s take a look.

If It’s Hard To Learn A Tool That’s Supposed To Make My Life Easy. . .

Some collaboration platforms are oriented to geeks. They say they do everything, and maybe they do, but they’re so hard to figure out, it’s tempting to revert to pen, paper and snail mail. But, Threads is based on a discussion forum structure, hence the name “Threads”. Even  the most geek challenged person never had a problem figuring that out! Getting your ideas down is as straightforward as using an online notepad. In addition, group members get just the data that pertains to their tasks so they aren’t overwhelmed with notifications that have nothing to do with their current work.

By the way a “thread”  is a “uniformly formatted information container”, and can be anything: task, document, discussion etc, depending on additional properties (i.e. task will have a deadline, assigned person etc).

Help For Groups With Members That Work In Different Locations

If your team has members who work at home, are freelancing, situated in an office across town or across the world, or work on the go, you can benefit from the online collaboration that Threads  offers. You can use any computer or mobile device that has access to the Internet. This is your communication hub for project management, tasks, issues and information.

Collaborate With The Correct People Easily

Since most of us understand the discussion forum model, there is minimal learning curve when you use Threads. Jotting down your notes and ideas is a snap with the notepad. Convert these to discussions with one-click.

You can include precisely the people involved in each particular segment of a project, on a task-by-task and even notification-by-notification basis. This means you are saved from starting one project for the group and another for the customer in order to be sure only certain people see just specific information.

You can start discussions to brainstorm and gather together ideas. Turn these into documents with one click on the dashboard. It’s easy to then organize all this information into FAQs, wikis and case studies. Threads makes it easy to capture ideas and the knowledge of the group for sharing and as resources in future projects. Members have access to the information in a knowledge database using the Document tab. You can also attach documents to threads.

On the dashboard you can track the status of tasks and projects easily. The search feature uses powerful filters for users, tags, authors and other criteria.

It’s easy for group members to comment on projects and tasks. Assigning them and creating deadlines is easy from the dashboard. Members use the MyTask and the Activity tabs to see precisely what they have been assigned and check progress.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Here is a look at the dashboard overview of a current discussion. It’s easy to see who is participating and the tasks involved.

Threads review

 

It is easy to search for the information you want using several filters.

Threads Review

In this case, the threads have been sorted according to priority.

Threads Review

Members can collaborate using  mobile devices.

Threads Review

Easy To Learn, Easy To Communicate, Easy To Share Knowledge

Threads makes it easy for a group that is working in multiple locations to share knowledge, keep on top of tasks, manage projects, brainstorm and document processes easily and efficiently. The platform is accessible to anyone who can connect to the Internet.

Information goes just to the people who need it. Group members aren’t inundated with unnecessary notifications and customers get just the communications that you want.

There’s basically no learning curve to figure out how to use it. You can jot down notes as you think of them, then later distribute them quickly to team members.

Help is provided in the forum, FAQs, video tutorials, plus online support.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Pricing is based on the number of open threads  (tasks, documents, discussion…). Up to 1000 are free, with monthly subscriptions for more.

The free version is a generous offer and there is no restrictions on users/projects, other functions, or data. In fact for a small team a free version will suffice in most cases.

Is It For You?

Treads still need some input in terms of configuration and  housekeeping, but the upside is simplicity and clean interface (no additional buttons, menu items etc)

For example there are no milestones or task lists… but they can be easily set-up by applying the same tag to a number of threads, then searching by that tag and saving search – this will be your list of threads that you can access from top menu (saved search)

All in all, Threads is perfect for any group that wants to get up and running quickly with their collaboration platform. You can target your communication precisely; gather, share and store information; manage your projects and assign tasks. It’s easy to learn, easy to use and accessible from any Internet-enabled device.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Simple, Useful, and Workable Collaboration Solution for Teams"  cons= "Requires a bit of polishing " score=9]

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Create Attractive, Working Forms For Your Small Business — Review of 123ContactForm

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As a small business owner, I really need forms to find out what my website visitors are thinking.

But designing the form and installing it can literally take me days. So I am totally excited to review 123ContactForm. They say form building and publishing is as easy as 1-2-3.

Let’s see!

How to Get a Form up and Running When You Are a Non-Programmer

123ContactForm was started in 2008 by two partner developers with the goal of making form building easy for the small business person. Most of us aren’t designers or coders. We know what we want a form to accomplish but not how to construct it from the ground up and insert it into a website or blog. And order forms that take payments—help!

Easy to Use For Freelancers, Small Businesses, Web Designers, Large Corporations

123ContactForm lets anyone put together forms for any occasion: Event registrations, order forms, lead generation, surveys, workshop sign-ups or employment applications. Anyone who wants to concentrate on other things than form design and coding can benefit from 123ContactForm.

Web designers love it. Designer Donna Powell said, “Your service allows me to provide flawless forms and most importantly change or update them in seconds. You have taken the work and the errors out of form creation and forms management.”

Design a Form, Insert it In Your Website, Blog or Facebook Page

The form generator is geared toward ease of use. It’s WYSIWYG and drag and drop, making it simple to fiddle with it until you get it right. It’s perfect for lead generation forms, email forms and other methods of staying in touch with your visitors. Use it for an event registration or workshop sign up. Find out what your readers are thinking with surveys and questionnaires.

It’s simple to publish the form on your website, Facebook, WordPress, Joomla or Blogger. It integrates seamlessly with GoogleDocs, Yahoo Groups, MailChimp, SalesForce and other third party platforms.

Your forms look good. You can choose colors, add your logo and pick a template and theme from their collection. By the time you’re through, it looks like a natural part of your website or blog. Their extensive library of templates gives you a starting point for many types of forms.

If you sell a product, you can create secure order forms that work with Paypal, Google Checkout and Authorize.net. It lets you get money safely when your customers buy your product and collect important information about them at the same time.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

It’s easy to build a survey form using 123ContactForm.

 

They offer a library of templates. This one here is a good starting point for any order form.

You can choose from a number of themes. You can insert your logo and preview the form before publishing it.

From the dashboard you can check response to your form.

You can integrate your forms with third part applications like GoogleDocs, SalesForce, TopProducer,  Aweber, Icontact, ConstantContact, GoogleGroups and YahooGroups.

Sell products using Paypal, Authorize.net and Google Checkout.

Make an Attractive, Efficient Form Without Design or Coding Skills

123ContactForm makes attractive forms of all types fast and easy for anyone, with or without design and coding experience. Your form looks like a basic part of your website. You can use their templates and themes to get started, then add your logo. It offers one-click integration with major third party apps like GoogleDocs, Aweber and SalesForce. You can publish simply from the dashboard to your website, WordPress or Blogger blog or Facebook. You can take orders and collect payment via Paypal, Authorize.net or Google Checkout.

Support is via live chat 24/7, their Facebook page and email.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

123ContactForm offers a free plan good for one user, five forms and 100 submissions a month. Paid monthly fees with the Gold and Platinum plans allow for more users, forms and submissions. If these don’t suit, they will design a custom plan to suit your business. A generous 35% discount is offered to educational and nonprofit groups.

Is it For You?

If you dread making forms for your online endeavors, 123ContactForm can help you. It will cut your time and help you come up with one that handles the job. Forms of all types are easy to design and upload to any type of site and integrate with a number of third-party applications with one-click.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Creates Easy and Great Looking Forms"  cons= "Monthly fees may turn off some small businesses " score=9.5]

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Employee Training Has Never Been Easier — Review Inquisiq r3 LMS

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As a business owner, you understand the importance of making sure that each and every one of your employees are working the way you need them to be working.

You know how things should be done and want everyone doing things the same way. Training can be a big issue when things are changing all the time to keep up with technology and the times.

Virtual, online training enables you to make sure everyone is on the same page and keeps things going the way you want them to go. Whether you do training as a product, or training for your employees Inquisiq, an award winning learning management system (LMS) has an answer. Today we review Inquisiq r3 LMS.

The Hallmarks of Inquisiq

According to the creators of Inquisiq, their LMS includes features not often found in smaller systems, but without the unneeded bloated features that make LMS so expensive.

The highlights of Inquisiq are:

  • Smart feature set that combines sophisticated capabilities with ease-of-use
  • A well-designed, intuitive user interface
  • Powerful automation and reporting features
  • Low pricing that, combined with powerful capabilities, makes it a very high value.
  • Multiple pricing models to accommodate a variety of different customers’ needs (Installed Solution, SaaS User-based, & SaaS Enrollment-based)
  •  Special feature set designed for external training

Let’s have a look and see if this is true.

Have Everyone Trained On New Equipment and Procedures

Whether you are getting new cash registers, upgraded software or need to change the way something is being done, having everyone trained can take a lot of time. You will probably have to do the training at least 4 times to make sure everyone has a chance to attend. If you can prepare the lessons and have everyone your employees access them online, everyone can receive the training in just a few days but you did not have to do it more than once. You can give everyone the access data and tell them they have two or three days to complete the lesson. You will receive reports on who has registered and taken the lesson so you know who has not.

The Ideal Way for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses to Train New Employees

Imagine how much time and trouble you would save yourself or your managers if all new employees received their training online. You could even have a room set up where they can come and do the training. This would give them access to a supervisor if they needed help. Everyone would be trained the same way regardless of who was doing the training and nothing would be left out accidentally. You have time to go over the modules to make sure it is complete and accurate before making it live for employees.

In addition, if you simply want to offer courses as part of your business model, whether you’re a coach, or an organization, this LMS makes it simple to do. They created Inquisiq out of the growing need of their customers. They saw that their customers were using expensive, bloated, and hard to use systems. They wanted to build a friendlier LMS that didn’t need as many features. Yet, they included the most important features for small to medium sized businesses or content resellers to use.

When Everyone Does Things The Same, Business Increases

No matter what kind of business you run, doing things the same way every time is the best way to ensure repeat business. You may have a service business or you may have a product related business, either way, it is important that the customers receive the same quality of service from your employees. Everyone should be able to answer a question with the same response so the customers are not confused. Good, solid training is the key to making sure everyone is working the same way.

Additionally, if you’re a training organization, or a company that sells training, this system will make it simple for you to get your training in the hands of others right from your website. With over 1,000,000 users, they listen to feedback and try to make their software better.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

When it comes to the training lessons, how they look will be up to you. You can choose to have a PowerPoint slide-show, embedded videos, or anything else you want. The interface is easy to use and you will be creating your lessons in no time. The log-in page ensures that each employee has their own user data.

Administrator View — Familiar view for most web savvy people and easy to figure out what to do next.

 

 

 

Course Catalog View — If you have multiple courses it’s easy for your students or employees to see what you have available.

 

 

Create Training for Your Business or Sell Training Modules

Create training for your employees or create training modules to sell to other companies. You are given reports to be aware of who has seen the training, and how much time they spent on it. You decide who gets access to each module. If you are selling your training, the system has built-in e Commerce capabilities. The built-in e Commerce capabilities is exciting. If you sell coaching, or any type of lesson at all, even if you have no employees this is a valuable component to add to your offerings.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

You have the option of purchasing the Inquisiq r3 software in two ways.  First is the all-inclusive Cloud hosted software as a service (SaaS) solution which starts at $99/month.  In this typical SaaS model, you pay each month based on your total user count, and you can cancel at any time.

If you have a larger user population, you can also purchase the unlimited user perpetual license, and either install it on a dedicated Web server, or lease a virtual dedicated server in their Cloud.  As we found out, the cost of Inquisiq r3 is a lot less than other more bloated offerings in the LMS market.

Is it For You?

If you are in need of corporate training for your employees or would like to find a platform to create and sell your training, try a free demo of Inquisiq r3.  You would be hard put to find another system that offers you as much flexibility and all the options and reporting as this program. As a company that lives and breaths eLearning, you cannot do better than Inquisiq.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="useful, full-featured training solution"  cons= "None " score=9]

Try Inquisiq r3 For Free

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Keep Better Track Of Billable Time — Review of Time Cockpit

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Time Cockpit ReviewKeeping track of time spent for billing is a necessary, but often irritating and complicated task.

As a freelancer, I have some projects that are billed at an hourly basis. To do this I must keep track of my time in a way that works for me, as well as my client.

time cockpit says it has made the process easy to use and painless. Let’s take a look.

Complicated Time Tracking Software Means Spending Time Trying to Track Work Instead of Working

One exciting feature is that time cockpit helps put an end to missing entries and overlapping jobs in the same time-frame. You get valid entries that help you and your organization figure out where your time is spent. Instead of lists, you have a simple Outlook-like graphical calendar view. You don’t have to guess how you spend time to fill a missing gap because it has an activity tracker that keeps track of your computer activities.

Easy to Input, Easy to Analyze Time Tracking

Small or large organizations can benefit from this easy to use time tracking tool. Employees like the activity tracker, Windows based, that keeps a record of their computer work so they don’t have to guess. Managers like the graphical interface makes it simple to check where time is spent. time cockpit lets you integrate information with Outlook and Excel quickly.

Simple but Sophisticated Time Tracking for your Company

time cockpit is easy for the user. The activity manager records your work on the computer. And, no worries, it’s not Big Brother, you can turn it off and on. If you are working off-line, it will hold the information and automatically synchronize it next time you are online. If you need to shift to a different computer, you can access the platform online with your name and password.

For administrators, the graphical interface and color formatting make it simple to get an overview of  where time is spent and planned vs. actual hours. All information is customizable and templates are easy to create. It’s easy to add team members and to export information to Microsoft Excel. The data grid lets you create reports of all types and create invoices.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The graphical interface makes it easy to see where you are spending your time.

Time Cockpit Review

 

Use drag and drop to change the time and duration of tasks.

Time Cockpit Review

It works seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook.

Time Cockpit Review

The activity tracker keeps a record of your computer work automatically.

Time Cockpit Review

 

Use color formatting to get an at-a-glance idea of how your work week is going.

Time cockpit review

Easy to Use by Workers and Managers

time cockpit provides a clean, easy-to-use graphical interface for workers and administrators to manage time tracking from beginning, task entry, to end, invoicing the client. It seamlessly integrates with Outlook and Excel. Work online and it keeps track of time automatically. Offline it will record information and update data when you are next online. On a different computer you can access the platform easily. Time tracking is simplified so you get accurate information about where time is spent in your business.

While PCs are fully supported,  it is not a natural platform for the Mac since it uses Microsoft Windows Azure Platform. While this is an excellent platform, today with teams working on the go using a variety of platforms it might be limiting to some companies.

Help is provided via chat and online contact form.

Will it Fit your Budget?

time cockpit offers a free 30-day trial requiring no credit card. If you continue, you are charged  monthly, calculated per user per day.

Is It For You?

If you use PCs and want simple, multi-function time tracking software that makes it easy to enter  data and figure out where your time is spent, time cockpit is a good choice.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Fabulous solution for small businesses with employees or contractors who need to keep track of time on each task for billings"  cons= "Needs multi-system compatibility in these days of cloud-computing " score=8.5]

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A Survey Tool For Everyone — Review of Survey Expression

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Survey Expression ReviewSurveys for your blog or surveys sent out to readers via email are limited in most free online survey tools.

The number of questions and how they can be asked are capped. It can also be difficult to know how to organize and design them. Survey Expression calls itself the best free online tool you can use.

Let’s take a look.

Most Survey Tools Offer Too Few Questions or are Too Complicated, Not This One

Surveys are great tools to increase blog readership and find out what employees or clients are thinking. They are an effective communication device for everyone. But they can be complicated to design and publish. It’s just so easy to end up with questions that don’t match the requirements of the free survey website you stumbled on. Some let you ask only 10 questions, seldom enough. They delete information quickly and don’t let you export it.

A Survey Tool That Works For The Blogger, Small Businessperson and / or Market Researcher

Survey Expression has targeted the free survey market with very generous features. They have templates to help you design the survey, allow you to ask as many questions as you want, in as many surveys a month as you choose. You can ask simple or sophisticated questions in any form. The information can be exported easily and is never deleted from their servers.

Simple Surveys That Get All Your Questions Answered

Survey Expression lets you set up a free account and keep it active as long as you like. The only limit is 200 responses a survey. You can ask questions in up to 18 different forms, using radio buttons in multiple choice, essay boxes, check boxes, continuous sums, and ranking. Even market researchers who use advanced, sophisticated survey logic will feel at home with Survey Expression.

Their templates cover consumer, education, employee and event surveys. If you need to do a health assessment, they have a template for that. Their web forms and IT surveys are easy to customize for your needs. The Survey Editor is simple to use.

You can collect responses via email or with a link on your website or blog. The reports are easy to create from the dashboard. They give you real-time results to the survey as answers come in.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Choose your survey options with one click from the dashboard.

Survey Expression - Review

Easily choose the response options that you want.

 

SurveyExpression Review

It’s simple to manage your surveys from the dashboard.

Review SurveyExpression

 Produce real-time reports quickly.

 

Export your data for analysis and sharing.

Review of SurveyExpression

Free, Easy-To-Use, Versatile

Survey Expression is an easy-to-use survey tool that is free for up to 200 responses a survey. It has templates that make the design easy. You can ask as many questions you want in whatever form you like. A blogger can embed a simple readership survey. A market researcher can ask advanced logic question aimed at highly targeted audiences. Reports and exporting is simple to do.

Support for free users comes from extensive tutorials on the website and email. Paid subscribers get priority email and phone support. The highest level gets a dedicated account manager.

Will It Fit Your Budget? 

Survey Expression is free for as many surveys as you like as long as you only need up to 200 responses. Paid subscriptions are on two levels based on the number of email invitations a month. The first is at 50,000 email invitations, the second at 100,000.

An Excellent Free Survey Tool

If you want a free online survey tool, check out Survey Expression. They offer the most open-handed options of any survey tool online. Tutorials and templates make it easy to design and publish your surveys and then analyze the responses. Both casual and advanced users have access to all the survey tools they could need. On a side note, outside of business, as a former graduate student, if I had known about this tool I would have used it instead of the one I ultimately used.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="I gave it a perfect score because it is awesome" cons= "None " score=10]

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Google Apps vs Office 365 vs Zoho – What is Best for Small Businesses?

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Google has started charging new users for the Google Apps for Business, its online suite of software applications, for companies with under 10 users who had it for free before last week’s announcement.  Their reason is that “with focus we’ll be able to do even more for our business customers.”

Let´s see what that means for small businesses and how it compares with other offers from Microsoft and Zoho.

Which solution will win the  battle over who will control the move by small businesses to the Cloud?

The New Google Apps for Businesses

The price for Google Apps is still low, just $5 a month for each user or save a little by paying $50 a year. They include Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides. The inbox has 25 GB of storage. The paid edition lets a business use the all-in-one business service on their own domain.

As a selling point, Google is emphasizing its commitment to a high level of support. Users get 24/7 phone help. The company guarantees 99.9% uptime and no scheduled downtime.

More than five million businesses are currently using the Google online suite. Those with a current free business account are grandfathered in and don’t have to pay. However they don’t get the improvements like more storage that paying customers are offered.

Google makes most of its money from advertising but is slowly working its way into being a general business service provider. In July, a senior vice president said enterprise business was a “future growth engine” for the company.

The Office 365 Experience

Do you have years of data from Microsoft Office desktop software? If the thought of moving all that to an online suite is giving you heartburn, then Office 365 might be your best choice. It integrates seamlessly  with the desktop version of the software, which is in use with over 90% of all small businesses. Removing this problem alone is getting any number of businesses to sign up. Microsoft Office integration isn’t considered a strong point for Google Apps.

Microsoft Office 365 team starts at $6 a user and offers a free 90-day trial for small businesses with up to 10 users. Google is only marginally cheaper at $5.

Zoho Suite is a Strong Contender

With over seven million users Zoho is a strong contender in the online suite market. If your big concern is getting your apps to communicate with each other and integrating data from other software into your new Cloud suite, Zoho is definitely worth a look.

They seem to want to set up an environment so all-enveloping that you never have to leave or want to! It offers an incredibly full line of apps for small businesses, covering CRM, productivity, office suite and collaboration. With almost 30 different services, it is probably the most comprehensive suite of web-based programmers for small businesses.

They’ve worked hard to appeal to a broad base. Most of its apps are fully integrated with Google apps, letting a user manage contacts, attach files and schedule events with Google Mail, Docs, Calendar and other apps, directly from within Zoho. In addition, the office suite works seamlessly with Microsoft Office. Another big selling point is that all its apps communicate with each other so users don’t have to enter data more than once.

If you are one of the many small businesses that have come to rely on customer relationship management (CRM) to keep contacts, service requests and email contacts at hand and organized, you should know that Zoho gets high marks for its Zoho CRM and project management software, all cloud-based.

What they offer is extensive. With Zoho Creator, you can even create new apps for your business using one of their apps! For online presence, you can set up a website, a mobile site, check how they are doing, identify bugs and fix problems remotely. They have tools for employees, from the first step of tracking and hiring applicants on through handling all the human resources work. For customers, beside CRM, they offer an app to run marketing campaigns, handle support and later invoice. Their collaboration and productivity apps are also extensive.

A minor downside, Zoho has a complicated price structure. It might be tempting to go with Google or Microsoft  just because it’s so easy to know the price! But, no worries, with Zoho you start with a free account and upgrade and downgrade as needed.

One thing that is nice is having choices and thankfully there are plenty of choices when it comes to cloud business apps for your small business needs.

The Bottom Line

Microsoft has a head start with its legacy installed base of Microsoft Office where they clearly have a conversion advantage and Google is strong with startups and “All in cloud” businesses. Zoho is a strong option for comers to cloud apps.

Small businesses are massively moving to cloud apps but once they have chosen a solution, despite price cuts and free trials  small businesses will probably not  jump from one cloud business app vendor to to another as transferring data and training employees to new tools is far from easy.

We can expect very stiff competition from these three players to capture as nmuch market share as possible in the coming years. As usual, if you are new to cloud business apps and you are looking at one of these three suites, we strongly recommend that you try at least two of them with the free trial before making your final choice.

Side by Side Comparison of Google Apps, Office 365 and Zoho Suite

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Finally a Cloud-based POS System for Small Business — A Review of ShopKeep POS

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ShopKeepPOS ReviewIt costs money to buy cash registers, software, hardware. My friend who runs two small espresso spots gets frustrated because he wants to know how sales are going when he’s out and about. Training his clerks to use the cash register software takes time.

ShopKeep says it can help a retailer like him out, calling itself “a simple, smarter point of sale (POS) system.” Let’s give it a look.

Expensive Equipment, Hardware and Software That is Difficult to Learn

Cash register systems, have kept up with computers but have been slow to adopt the cloud. Small retailers still invest in computers, servers and hardware to take money and separate tools to handle inventory and reports.

ShopKeep uses the cloud-based iPad as POS for reporting and inventory. The emphasis is on ease of use for sales people and managers. You don’t even have to be in the shop to check on sales.

All-in-One POS for Small Retailers and Quick Serve Restaurants

Small businesses like ShopKeep because it’s easy to learn for both the salesperson and the owner. It’s a two-part system, the Register and the Back Office  The Register handles the sales and time clock. Back Office generates reports and handles inventory. You can also access data about how sales are going from any smart phone. If you have more than one store, you can check reports for all of them from one dashboard, a benefit of a cloud-based system.

Set up Your Business on the iPad

The POS tools let you easily add items, create discounts and keep track of taxes. You can take credit, debit, cash or checks and use your own bank. With its intuitive interface, users report that there is almost no learning curve for employees. You decide who has access to which parts of the information. It even lets you email receipts to customers. It uses a hybrid technology so users aren’t slowed down if their Internet connection has problems. The Register app is installed locally on each iPad so it isn’t subject to interruptions from server crashes or slowdowns from bandwidth size. It acts like a regular register, printing receipts and opening the cash drawer.

All management functions reside in the cloud-based Back Office. You don’t have to be in the individual store to use it. If you have more than one location, you can get real-time reports on all of them from anywhere. Use it to track sales as they occur, even out of the shop on your smart phone. It has a robust inventory management. Graphed reports show you how your business is doing. You’ll never have to worry about another back-up since it’s cloud-based.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

ShopKeep uses the iPad for everything. Check out customers easily with either cash or credit cards.

 

ShopKeepPOS Review

 

It’s simple to see how sales are going. Check charts for to figure out how individual items are doing, or check overall sales by the hour or date.

 

Review of ShopKeepPOS

Your smart phone keeps you up-to-date from anywhere.

 

ShopKeep Review

 

Inventory is simplified: add items, get a notice to reorder, receive orders.

ShopKeep Review

 

Generate reports on every aspect of business from best sellers to returns.

Review of ShopKeep

Perfect for the Small Retailer

Ease of use is it’s huge selling point. It can be set up in minutes and figured out just as fast. The register does all POS actions effectively and it is a cloud-based hybrid that is not dependent on your Internet connection. The Back Office gives you up-to-the-minute information from anywhere.

The drawbacks are minor. It has trouble reading gift cards. It doesn’t do accounts receivable/payable though you can export easily to QuickBooks. It is limited in how it can check out items that need to be weighed. However, don’t let these limitations deter you from considering ShopKeep as these features are slated to be added in the very near future.

ShopKeep gets raves for its support. You receive free email, web chat and phone help with a subscription. It also offers a knowledge base, blog and regular webinars.

Best of all, the software is regularly updated with additional features based on feedback from their over 3,000 merchants.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

Monthly subscriptions are based on the number of registers. You can sign up for a free 30-day trial that requires no credit card.

Is it For You?

If you are a small retailer or quick serve restaurant owner who wants an easy-to-use, affordable POS and tracking system for your business, ShopKeep is definitely worth a look.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Affordable, cloud-based POS for small business" cons= "Has issues with gift-cards" score=9]

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Doing Magic with Membership Management — Review of Wild Apricot

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Wild Apricot ReviewSetting up a membership site can be intimidating, especially if you have different member levels, want to accept payments and have limited tech skills.

Poetically named membership management app Wild Apricot says it provides Member Management Magic. As a freelancer, I have worked with a client who used Wild Apricot before and I must confess I already loved it. But, I never looked past the tasks I did for the client. So I was super excited to look closer at it. Ready?

OK, let’s give it a look.

Either Too Complicated or Too Expensive

Setting up a membership site can be a complicated proposition. You can sign on with a membership management company to do the work, a great solution if you can afford it. Let them worry about  emails, events, payments and content for you.

The cheaper alternative is to use separate tools to control emails, take payments, keep the books, handle events and set up content like member directories and documents to share. That’s a lot of data, dashboards and programs to keep track of.

Wild Apricot offers you a third way to handle creating and administering a membership site.

Customizable Membership Software that is Easy To Use for You and Members

Wild Apricot is targeted to nonprofits, associations, clubs and subscription websites, from under 50 members to over 15,000. It is cloud-based so there is no software for you to worry about installing.

You have full control of the membership from application through sign up, payment and renewal. Easy to use website software lets you set up a customized community that reflects the group’s interests and is easy for administrators and members to use. They have a variety of templates to get you started.

The system lets you send out emails and newsletters quickly. You can handle events like workshops and make documents available to members.

Create an Easy-To-Use Community Quickly and Inexpensively

Starting with the ability to create an application that has all the information your group wants to collect when you sign up members online, Wild Apricot gives you full control of the membership process. You decide about your renewal policy and target emails announcing it. You can track the renewal rate easily from your dashboard.

It’s easy for members to create profiles and access the information on the site. Blogs, forums, emails and newsletters make an active community that invites participation by members.  Events, sign ups, reminders and calendars keep them up-to-date.

With professional looking templates even non-designers can put together an attractive website for the group. It is easy to take Paypal and credit card payments, manage invoices and export the information to QuickBooks.

You can also take donations for your nonprofit and followup with donors. You can access financial reports with one click from the dashboard.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

It is easy to create your own application form.

 

Wild Apricot Review

 

You have full control over membership levels.

 

Wild Apricot Review

 

Easily customizable templates make it simple to create an eye-catching website.       

Review of Wild Apricot

Add blogs, forums and calendars to keep your members well informed.

 

Wild Apricot App Review

 

 

Check your financial information easily from the dashboard.

 

Wild Apricot Application Review

 

 

Donations are easy to accept with custom made forms.

 

Wild Apricot Review

 

Professional Membership Sites are Super Easy to Set Up with Wild Apricot

If you want a good looking, accessible membership site, Wild Apricot provides all the  functionality you are likely to ever need for your nonprofit, association or group. It handles the member process from sign up to renewal, letting you make targeted decisions at each step.You can build an attractive community that is accessible for your members. Email, newsletters, forums, blogs and calendars invite them to get involved in the online community. Events, payments, donations and financial reports are handled from the dashboard.

Extensive product documentation is available on the Wild Apricot website, and the support team can be reached by email or phone. There’s also a call-back option if you want to schedule a call.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

An ad-supported free service is available for groups under 50 members. For larger groups Wild Apricot offers a free 30-day free trial. Monthly fees are based on number of members, with price points at 250, 500, 2,000 and 15,000 or more members. Most membership groups, whether online groups or off-line groups will be able to support the cost via their membership dues.

Is It For You?

If you want an easy-to-setup, easy to customize membership site with full functionality for emails, payments, memberships and events, Wild Apricot is a good choice. Your club, association or subscription website will have an attractive, accessible community with minimal stress and time.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Very simple and beautiful membership management application" cons= "none" score=10]

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Store, Search, Backup Documents and Emails in Google Apps — Cloudfinder Review

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Cloudfinder is a web-based product that works with your unique domain to store files and emails, enable you to search for files and emails, restore previous versions of files and even get back deleted files and emails. You cannot delete anything accidentally, any longer. It seamlessly links with your current Google apps (and in the future with Salesforce apps).

Sooner or later, everyone loses an important file or email. It has happened to me. One time, I had a client who used Google Documents (now Google Drive) to collaborate on articles that we would write together. One day, I just accidentally hit the “delete” icon. Unfortunately, we had not saved other versions and it was just gone. As a freelancer this was not a good thing!

Cloudfinder is something very much needed. Let’s see how it works.

It’s File & Email Storage, It’s a Files & Emails Search, No … It’s a Vault!

Guess what, it’s really all three. Cloudfinder stores files, enables you to search for those files or emails and unless you ask them to erase your data, guess what, you can still access it!  Sign into the intuitive portal and you immediately gain access to a dashboard that gives you updates on recent backups, new files added, and more. You can search for all your Google Drive files from one central search feed, which is very convenient. If you accidentally delete a file, or someone hacks into your Google account and edits or destroys your files, guess what? You can still retrieve them from the Cloudfinder server.

Document Centric Businesses and Freelancers Need Cloudfinder

Okay face it; despite trying to cut down on time wasting administration, most businesses have a lot of documents to deal with today. However, the days of outdated photocopied documents sitting in file cabinets are over. Today, documents need to be dynamic, collaborative, and most of all accessible – via digital document management technology.

If internal documents aren’t easily accessible to your entire team, what point is there to use them? If collaborative material gets lost, knowledge sharing becomes a nightmare instead of the creative and productive force it can be with the right tools.

So, if you have any size business that has either internal or external documents that you need to keep updated, easy to find, and assessable then you need Cloudfinder.

Documentation and Information Drives Business

Information is the single most valuable asset that a business has today. The ability to create, share, and store documentation is the lifeblood of the freelancer and business owner. This is especially true when more businesses are shifting towards paperless office processes and virtual work environments. Therefore, any business with paperwork needs an application like Cloudfinder.

How Can Cloudfinder Help You Manage Your Documents?

First, and most importantly, Cloudfinder provides fast and secure access to all your Google apps and document files in one easy-to-navigate dashboard. This can save you time and protects your information when using Wi-Fi hotspots because you don’t have to use your actual Google password.

Second, your document storage is unlimited and you can load up to 500 apps at once to this robust product. As it’s operated by an independent cloud-based storage server, you don’t have to worry about buying more external storage space, hard drives, or other paid file storage products. This is all you’ll ever need.

Files are regularly backed up by Cloudfinder, so you never have to worry about the integrity of your data. If, for any reason, one of your Google files goes missing (which happens more than you can imagine) you simply get in touch with Cloudfinder’s live support team and your file will be restored from their backup server.

No more lost or compromised documents. Since Google has a tendency to experience downtimes, this is an opportune time for hackers to try to break into Google app user accounts to steal data. Cloudfinder acts as another line of defense to keep your information safe. You’ll see all activity displayed in a well-organized list on your dashboard at all times.

Having access to your data from anywhere is also a great feature of using Cloudfinder. Instead of needing to log into each Google app separately, it’s all there at your disposal as soon as you log in using their secure, cloud system that’s password protected and encrypted to the highest industry standards.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Logging into the Cloudfinder portal – Two options:

Use your Google Apps Credentials

 

176cloudfinder

 

Sign in Directly

 

177Cloudfinder

Using Cloudfinder search to find documents

 

178Cloudfinder

 

 

 Use search terms that you’ve created. One or two words is best.

179Cloudfinder

 See what types of documents you have.

 

180 Cloudfinder

 

What Are the Pros and Cons of Cloudfinder for the Docu-file?

There are several good aspects and not so good aspects to using Cloudfinder to manage all your Google apps. Keep in mind, this is a product that is still making improvements, including integrating with Salesforce apps, so this will update with time and keep improving.

Here’s what I experienced as a user.

The Pros of Cloudfinder:

  • Very easy and simple to log in and navigate to find the information needed.
  • All Google files listed in order of recent updates for convenience.
  • User storage data and visuals to help me make the most of the space.
  • Easy to file the files or emails  I am looking for using the central search feed.
  • Full online help database and support forum for users.
  • Simple and secure backup completed automatically.

The Cons of Cloudfinder:

  • Long-tail searches make it harder to find files so you should use one or two words only.
  • Currently no user-driven customization options available.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

Cloudfinder is easy to afford, even for the startup freelancer. Sign up for a free trial first, and then decide if the investment is right for your needs. Plans start at pennies a day per user, and there are also enterprise rates for companies with more than 200 employees as well as schools and colleges. Whether you are a small fry or a big company, Cloudfinder is cost effective and worth the money.

Is it For You?

Signing up and using Cloudfinder is so easy, even a novice Google App user can do it. I’d have to say that while I am a more advanced user and I’ve tried dozens of cloud storage options, I like the streamlined approach that Cloudfinder offers. I can find everything in one place, and I trust that my files and emails will always be there when I need them. Best of all, it’s no risk to try it out, so what can you lose?

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 4.5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4.5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Something every freelancer or business owner needs -- Document safety" cons= "Can be hard to find some documents " score=9]

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Basecamp Review — Project Management for Everyone

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basecamp reviewBasecamp isn’t the first project management app to be introduced here (we already reviewed Mavenlink, Clarizen, Attask, etc,..), but it is one of the most popular ones, and for good reason. It offers so many features as standard, such as having single-page projects and a place to combine your projects, employees, companies, vendors and other details in one cloud-based location.

As a freelancer who often uses Basecamp with various clients, I can tell you already that I love Basecamp. Let’s learn more about why with this Basecamp review.

Single-Page Projects

Basecamp is one of the only project management apps with single-page projects, regardless of how big or small your project is. That way, no data is lost and your team will be able to follow the projects quickly and easily. Another benefit to having everything in one place is that you know it is all secure and safe.

All projects are on one page, even if you have 20 or 50 projects going at one time. A quick look and you know what’s going on. This is very useful when you have multiple projects with multiple contractors working simultaneously.

When a project is completed, archive it so it is stored for later use if you ever need to look back on it. Basecamp also now offers a personal membership plan for individuals who want to use the project management tools. So, even if you’re a one man or woman operation, who manages projects, whether for business or not, Basecamp will work for you.

Basecamp For Business And Personal Use

In the past, basecamp was only for business professionals and small business owners who had work-related projects to manage. However, they now offer a personal plan that lets individuals organize their projects and update followers of projects that aren’t related to their business.

This option is less expensive than the business plan with all the same features. No matter what plan you choose, you get access to features like adding team members, keeping groups organized and viewing all current projects on a single page.

Improved Features

With Basecamp, you will find dozens of features that make it beneficial for business and personal use. It is fast loading and very easy to use. You can use it to get caught up on projects after business trips, use the web-based calendar and assigned tasks, recover information from projects completed years ago, collaborate with others in real-time documents, organize people into groups and categories, and invite people and companies to your projects. The list of functions is truly endless.

Basecamp Email Lists

The newest feature to hit Basecamp is the Basecamp Breeze which lets you create email lists. Each of your groups will get a separate email address and you can invite up to 50 people to that group. That way, if a member sends an email to the group email address, each person in the group gets it right away. This is going to save time and energy from sending multiple emails. It is great for sending emails to your book club, family members, friend, church groups, committees, or other uses.

Basecamp Integrations

Basecamp has a long list of integration partners and through their open API they integrate well with other business apps you may use such as customer support apps (Zendesk, Desk.com) where you can automatically create a todo in Basecamp each time there is a new support ticket or even Google Calendar so you can create a todo when there is a new event in your calendar. CloudWork provides a good number of Basecamp integrations.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

To start with, the sign up process and interface of Basecamp is easy to use and loads very quickly. This makes it even easier to use. Once you sign up, you are directed to the home page where you can search for a project, person, company or group.

You will also have different tabs to choose from such as the Project, Calendar and Everything tab. To view or edit your projects and see them on one page, click on the Projects tab. Here, you will see a list of current projects, access old projects, view sample projects and add a new project by choosing from 3 different templates.

projects_zps9361a8ae

 

Basecamp also includes a web-based calendar that can be accessed by clicking on the Calendar tab. This lets you view the next 6 weeks of projects and appointments, a list of calendar items, list or projects with settings to customize the calendar and alerts.

calendar_zps155b8014

 

One of the most popular features is the Everything tab. Here, you can choose from different options such as viewing every discussion, review all open to-do lists, see every single file, read all text documents, or show all forwarded emails on a single page.

everything_zps8123890e

Advantages And Disadvantages

With Basecamp, you’re going to find a long list of benefits, such as adding updates and notes, attaching documents, email without signing in, sharing filed by dragging from your desktop to the app, and viewing everyone’s schedule.

If there is a downside, it will be that the lower costing plans are rather limited with how many projects or people you can have. If you’re a one person business, the cost might be too much for you. The other downside is that I have discovered is that sometimes it’s hard to get clients to use the system.

True life disclosure here: I love Basecamp, but I often could not get my own clients to use my system, but rather they always wanted to use their own. I’m very thankful when my clients are using Basecamp, and disappointed when they aren’t because those clients aren’t as organized as clients using Basecamp are.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Basecamp makes it easy to afford their software as there are five different plans to choose from. The plans include Online Simple Start, Online Essentials, Online Plus, Online Essentials with Payroll, and Online Plus with Payroll. Each plan has a low monthly fee and differs in the number of projects, users and features you get.

Again, if you’re a single business person with a low number of projects you might find the price prohibitive but I am here to tell you that it’s worth it to give it a try. However, even if you can’t get your clients to use Basecamp for business, perhaps you can find use of the new personal option.

Is It For You?

Whether you need to manage a small project for your book club or little league team or multiple large projects for business, you can find a use for Basecamp. With low monthly costs, a free trial to start with and multiple features on each plan, there’s nothing to lose.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="This Cloud-Based Project Management System Makes Project Management Cake for Everyone" cons= "Might be pricey for some single person operations" score=9]

Try Basecamp For Free

Alternatively you can compare Basecamp with alternative project management apps.

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GooodJob Review — Turn Your Employees Into Recruiters

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logo2With the unemployment rate so high, you would think that finding good employees would be easy. Unfortunately you still have to interview many candiates you find one who fits the position properly.

In this GooodJob review, we will explore how GooodJob Mobile, the new referrals app from GooodJob, makes it simple for your current employees  to refer new employees through your employee referral program. Most of the time the best employees are recommended by current employees. An employee would not want to recommend someone who would do a bad job – nor would an employee want to recommend a friend to a bad job!

Let’s learn how you can benefit from this cool recruitment app.

Social Media and Recruiting

Everyone is connecting online; social media is the new way of keeping up with your friends. And GooodJob Mobile is the social media app for your company’s recruiting department. With it, employees can stay connected to your referral program even when they are outside of the office. They can refer your open positions to their Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter social media connections, and send candidate leads directly to your recruitment team.

Everyone Can Use Good Help

Mobile is a great way to source top talent. Even if you only need temporary or part-time help, you can get it easily when your employees can seamlessly refer candidates for your jobs, whenever and wherever they are. This handy tool is also a way to keep workers motivated to stay involved in your referral program.  It tracks which employee referred which candidate, so that your recruitment team has a bigger picture of employee participation. In addition, employees automatically receive e-mail notifications alerting them to their referrals’ progress. All of this is done to show continuous appreciation to employees, and to acknowledge their efforts.

Simplify the Hiring Process

When you need help you often do not have the time to advertise, wait on applications, review the applications, interview and then finally decide who to hire. GooodJob Mobile simplifies the whole process. Employees can refer all jobs or a specific job to their social media connections or e-mail contacts; candidates can apply directly via the link with a resume or LinkedIn profile. Additionally, employees can refer leads from the app in seconds, with just a candidate name and contact details.

The referrals’ information is sent to the recruitment team, and then can be interviewed or contacted for more information.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Everything about GooodJob Mobile was designed to be simple and easy. Employees can access it on their mobile devices anywhere.  Due to this, if they are out to dinner and happen to meet someone who would be a good fit for the company, they make a referral right then and there.

Mobile App View That Lets Potential Workers See All Jobs

mob2

Super Easy To Share Across Social Media Channels and in Email

mob3

Completely Personalized For Your Company

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Employees Can Send Leads Via Mobile App Easily

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What Makes GooodJob so Good?

Part of running a business is making sure you have enough workers and that they stay motivated. Using GooodJob not only keeps your company supplied with needed referrals, but it also gives your workers a chance to feel like they are doing something that is appreciated. It gives them the push to get involved – and stay involved – in your referral program.

Will it Fit your Budget?

A better question would be can you afford not to use GooodJob? You pay for the app monthly, a flat rate no matter how many applications or referrals you receive in the month. The only downside is if you have no regular hiring needs.

Having been a director of a preschool in the past, I can see a great benefit to having this type of application to use for the preschool. We needed to continuously interview, hire and train new employees. Our best teachers always came from recommendations from people who worked there. This app would have kept us supplied with a constant influx of new people to put through the hiring process.

Is It For You?

GooodJob is for any business that needs to hire people on a continuous basis. To see just how much you can benefit from it, take advantage of the free demo. It only takes a few minutes to get everything set up and working. You’ll see how much help it can be in just a day or two.

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Fun and useful program to enhance HR" cons= "It's not for every business, but that's okay" score=8]

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Mad Mimi Review – Email Marketing Made Beautiful

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mad mini reviewEmail marketing can be intimidating. Beyond trying to figure out what to say, how do I make it look nice?

Mad Mimi says they are for people who want email marketing to be simple. That sounds like me! Let’s give it a try.

Mad Mimi was started by a couple who wanted to send stylish emails to promote their music company. When they couldn’t find an email marketing platform with an interface that worked for them, they started Mad Mimi and kept adding services. The goal was “well-designed, elegant emails” that even Grandma (Mad Mimi herself?) can create.

Building an email for an ad campaign is hard unless you hire a designer or have artistic skills yourself. Figuring out who is opening them, dealing with bounced emails and tracking the results are all complex. A company that simplifies any of it is worth looking at. If they can do it all, it’s a winner!

Simple to Design, Manage and Track

Mad Mimi offers a simple drag-and-drop, WISYWIG interface for designing the emails. They provide the code for a sign-up form on your website. It integrates with a large number of major platforms including Google Analytics, Survey Monkey, Shopify and social media.

Though somewhat newer than many of the email marketing companies, Mad Mimi can proudly point to a number of very big customers including AOL, Seth Godin and Columbia University.

Great Looking email, Easy List Management, Real-time Stats

Mad Mimi is known for how easy the graphics tools are. Creating an email with your own artwork and templates, or theirs, is fast and produces eye-catching results quickly. They will store all of your images for free indefinitely. Everything you need to put an opt-in box on your website so people can sign up for your emails is provided.

List management is uncomplicated. All the features are on one page, easy to find. Bounces, unsubscribers and duplicates are handled automatically. You can copy and paste a list of new members. Scheduling follow-up emails is done with a few clicks. You can put together segmented campaigns easily.

You get real-time stats so you know how your campaign is going: who clicked which links and which emails were forwarded. Graphical charts give you the information you want at a glance. You can get an overview of how your campaigns are going by arranging them in a row and checking the stats singly and together.

Their authentication tools make sure your emails get through to your subscribers. Mad Mimi has a good reputation for best practices for bounces and spam control.

The standard system is complete, but they recognize that many companies want special add-ons. The list of options they support is huge, from SalesForce to FreshBooks, to Etsy, to Facebook signup.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

This view shows their super-easy interface for designing your email.

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The interface makes it easy to track stats.

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And users seem to like them a lot!

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Easy to Design, Manage and Track

Mad Mimi has a reputation for ease of use, especially creating good looking emails. They allow you to add just the features you need so you aren’t paying for unused extras. They employ the latest technology for security, to see your emails get delivered and to make tracking easy.

Customers rave about their support staff going above and beyond what is expected. It is available via email and chat.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

You can sign up for free account without a credit card. It lets you have 2,500 contacts and send up to 12,500 emails in a month. You can switch at any time to a paid subscription. This is monthly and based on the number of contacts. Remember to look ahead and foresee how many emails you will realistically send out per month, and how may contacts you will realistically have before choosing this option to ensure that it fits your budget.

Is It For You?

Mad Mimi is simple, yet provides gorgeous design that can’t be matched by the other’s in the market.  Anyone dreading starting an email list and marketing campaign should take a good look at Mad Mimi.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 3/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Beautiful solution that provides above average solutions for your email marketing needs" cons= "None" score=9]

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GimeTalk Review — Interact with The Customers that Visit your Website

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logoAs a business owner, you know the importance of having a web presence. You know that more people are finding services and shopping on the Internet so you are always looking for a way to make sure that your website has something your competition lacks.

This week we review GimeTalk a live chat app that gives you that something. You can now interact with the people visiting your website just as you would if they came into your physical store or office.

Provide Personal One-On-One Customer Service

The one thing consumers miss when shopping online is the personal touch. One big complaint about online business is the inability to contact someone in the business to ask a simple question. Some businesses do not even put contact information on their websites. If you need to get in touch with them there is a form to fill out and they will get back to you, when they get around to it. GimeTalk gives your visitors the ability to chat with someone in your company live. Right now! It is a simple live messaging program that can be started with the simple push of a button.

Never Miss a Chance at Making a Sale

GimeTalk is more than just a chat application your customers can use; if gives you the ability to see who is on your website and strike up a conversation with any of them. If you notice someone going back and forth between pages or items, ask them if you can help. Offer to explain the differences between products or help them find what it is they need. This type of customer service is invaluable to any business and will help your website have better conversions.

Good Customer Service Wins New Customers and Keeps Them Coming Back

When consumers feel they are going to be treated with respect and get the help they need when looking for a product or service, they will keep going back to that company. They will also recommend you to their friends. It used to be that location was the biggest determinant on whether or not a new business would make it, now it is all about customer service. GimeTalk gives you the features you need to make your customers happy.

  • You can easily find information on a previous visit so you know their buying habits and help this time.
  • If a customer is having a problem with a prior purchase, using video chat allows them to actually show you the problem.
  • Usable with most Smartphones and tablets.

You customers will feel as if they have walked into your store and have been greeted in person.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

GimeTalk is very simple to use, for both you and your customers. In most cases, it is like most other chat applications, you simple type in the person you wish to message and then type in the message. As people visit your site they are assigned a visitor number or they can have a user-name if they log in.

Sign in option:

signin

Agents can be helping more than one customer at a time and also have the option to chat with other agents  if they need to. The chat program can be easily hidden on the page by clicking on the close arrow. If a customer does not need any help, they can simply keep the chat closed.

One chat view option:

agentchat

Another chat view option:  livechat

The Pros and Cons of Using GimeTalk

Being able to interact with your customers is very important if you want the Internet portion of your business to take off and grow. This is especially true if you do not have a physical location where people can come and visit. It is very easy to get set-up and start using it on your website, for both you and your customers. The only downfall is that you will need to have someone there to answer the calls. While you do not need to have an operator standing by 24-7, you should have the hours listed when someone will be available and make sure someone is.

Will it Fit your Budget?

One of the great things about GimeTalk is that you can start out with just a few connections available and then add more as your business grows. You do not have to pay for 100 possible connections until you are having 100 people needing to chat at the same time. There is no need to hire a lot of operators if you don’t need them either. Start off with you as the on-call operator and just a few connections.

Is It For You?

How much business you do on the Internet will depend on how well people know your name and to look for you. If you are a small business in a small town, the competition is fierce. The best way to keep your customers and have them tell friends about you is with high-quality customer service. In a virtual world a chat application is a great way to provide the service people want. To find out just how much your visitors enjoy being able to get answers from a real person, give GimeTalk a try; sign up for the free two week trail and have fun getting to know the people who you are selling products to. You really have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Terrific help to add personal customer service to website" cons= "Will need to hire an agent " score=8.5]

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QuickBooks Online Review – Reliable, Recognized, Double Entry Bookkeeping Online

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Quickbooks online reviewQuickBooks by Intuit is now available in an online version to allow you to keep track of your accounting and bookkeeping tasks all in one place.

We will see in this QuickBooks Online review how you can get immediate access to secure online accounting software and the ability to keep everything organized in one place. I got the chance to try it and am impressed by how easy and effective the program is.

Track Expenses And Manage Accounting In One Place

With QuickBooks Online, you don’t need to worry about spreadsheets with confusing formulas and piles of paperwork. You can get access to everything you need in one cloud-based application. You will be able to track your sales and expenses, create custom-made invoices, accept credit card payments, sync bank accounts and credit cards, turn on payroll, use a variety of helpful apps and be tax-ready for the next tax season.

Business Owners Save Time And Money With QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks online can be used by anyone but as a business owner, you will find the most benefits to using the program. You will be able to access payroll and pay your employees in just 3 steps, accept credit cards through the online program, tablet, or mobile phone, and even customize your own invoices. The streamlined cloud-app has other features as well, like reports, paying bills, project estimates, and writing checks.

Access To Apps And Data 

There are a variety of exceptional apps that can be linked to your QuickBooks Online account, including Bill.com, SalesForce and eCommerce Cloud. Aside from the long list of apps, you can also import your contacts and get access to different types of financial data. Contacts can be imported from just about anywhere, including Outlook, Gmail, and Microsoft Excel.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Signing up and getting immediate access to the QuickBooks Online software program is quick and easy. Once you sign up, you will be automatically directed to the dashboard. From here, you get an overview of your company information, customers, contacts, vendors, employees, banking information, reports, invoices, and the app center.

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To add, edit or view your vendors, click on the Vendors tab. This allows you to see a list of your vendors, search for the one you want, and get access to purchase orders, enter bills, pay bills, pay a single vendor, or view vendor credits.

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Click on the Banking tab to write a check, view your credit card expense reports, add bank accounts, access cash expenses, make a deposit, download transactions and access bank registers.
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Advantages and Disadvantages

QuickBooks Online offers many advantages and very few disadvantages. The list of benefits include having a 60-day money back guarantee, a safe and secure website for entering your information, automatic data back-up, free expert advice, no installation or downloading required, and a simple set-up. The only disadvantage I noticed while accessing it is that because you don’t install the program, you will be relying on your Internet to be in working order to use the software. However if your Internet is down, you can still access it from a tablet or mobile phone.

The other issue with QuickBooks, and this is true with most true Accounting software packages, is the learning curve. You may need to hire someone to help you set it up properly such as a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Most CPA firms have someone that can assist you with proper set up. Proper set up is crucial to ensuring that you keep your books accurately.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

QuickBooks Online offers three easy plans, all of which include a 30-day trial that doesn’t require entering credit card or banking information. The three plans include the Simple Start plan, Start Your Business plan (the most popular choice) and the Grow Your Business plan. All three plans charge low monthly amounts.

Is It For You?

If you’re a business owner who is having difficulty keeping your finances on track, need budgeting help, or like cloud-based applications, you will find many benefits to using QuickBooks Online. With a free trial and no obligation, there’s no reason not to give it a try.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4.5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Professional full-featured accounting software that works well" cons= "May have a long learning curve " score=9.5]

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LinkGard Review – Manage Work Processes Efficiently with Google Apps

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Imagine being able to collaborate in real time on group projects, share files, surf the web, send emails and chat all in one secure location?

Well, you can…with LinkGard’s Google Apps offering, a way to manage all your work processes efficiently and effectively. Their full range of IT services include software development, information security, cloud computing, app management, and more.

As a Google Apps Authorized Reseller, the LinkGard team offers Google’s convenient, cloud-based product, with full user training, product customization, and support to help you get the maximum benefits. And for a small business owner, I am impressed with how easy it is to use all the great features that Google Apps already offer. Let´s see in this LinkGard review how this can be useful to you.

LinkGard Increases the Value of Google Apps 

As a busy freelancer or business owner, time is precious. That means you need the convenience of an easy-to-access environment where you can process all your data securely. LinkGard is a leading SaaS firm providing on-demand IT and software solutions for today’s modern business professional.

LinkGard was founded in 2004 by a team of information security experts to help the average business owner successfully manage product development, maintain secure data, and make the most of their IT investments. Their expertise and experience allows businesses to make use of Google Apps to the fullest, with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that expert help – should you ever need it – is only a phone call or an email away.

Google Apps is Great for Independent Business Professionals On-the-go.

LinkGard is perfect for the small business owner, the freelancer, and the independent consultant working remotely. Why? It’s managed completely via a web-enabled, cloud server that seamlessly integrates with the full lineup of Google’s powerful business and personal apps. That means no coding or fancy installations needed. Just pure simplicity.

It is worth mentioning that Google Apps is also adopted by large businesses and Google has published customer stories about several large companies that have switched to Google Apps, including Roche Group (90,000 employees) and BBVA (110,000 employees). I would  urge you to read the customer stories as they do a good job of explaining why larger companies made the switch to Google Apps.

Instead of logging into several  products individually, or being forced to search for and install multiple apps on a mobile device, Google Apps gives you the necessary functionality to collaborate and communicate like never before. You just log in and voilà, you are ready to be productive

Why Buy Google Apps from LinkGard if I Can Get it all from Google?

Google Apps is not free anymore. There used to be a free version of Google Apps, but Google discontinued the free version of Google Apps recently. The package you can get from Google is already very compelling, so why LinkGard?

LinkGard provides the right Google Apps services, such as setup, deployment and migration.

I’d like you to consider LinkGard as a way to boost productivity and get more out of the apps you often forget you have access to. LinkGard offers more than just access to Google Apps; it offers high level IT services, software customization, on demand training, cloud server security, and more for just pennies compared to if you had to hire these specialties on your own.

 The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

 Log in view of LinkGard

FireShot Screen Capture #171 - 'Google Apps' - www_google_com_a_cpanel_linkgard-test1_com_UserHub

 

Quick and Easy Setup

FireShot Screen Capture #174 - 'Deploy Google Apps' - deployment_googleapps_com

Learning Center and Tutorials

FireShot Screen Capture #173 - 'Drive - Google Apps Learning Center v4' - learn_googleapps_com_drive

The Good and the Bad?

Google Apps, just like any other cloud based service, has its own unique pros and cons. Although, I would be replete if I didn’t mention that I found it to be a very easy to use method of managing all my apps. But, in the spirit of being objective, here are some of the plusses and minuses of Google Apps to be aware of.

Pros

  • All in one application center that includes full IT services, security, and training.
  • Low cost for full IT support that any freelancer or small business pro can afford.
  • Easy to integrate all apps into one centrally-located web portal.
  • Accessible on the cloud, meaning can work from anywhere there is Internet.
  • Seamless migration of existing products to the LinkGard platform.
  • On demand, fully customized IT services from seasoned professionals.

Cons

  • May be too simplified for users who like all the “bells and whistles”.
  • Cost of Google Apps might be a factor for a start-up business or freelancer.
  • Some features may not be needed, although they are standard with the service.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

For most single users or small teams, the cost of LinkGard is quite reasonable at just $50 per year, plus a charge per user. Keep in mind that this includes full access to all the Google Apps for Business services from day one. For this rate, a LinkGard customer gains access to not only the app portal, but also an introductory webinars, available with a minimum purchase requirement, that include advanced use of the applications.

Customers can request a quote for additional customization as needed, at standard development rates.

Is it For You?

LinkGard has created an impressive list of IT services, support, and development options in its key offerings. To decide if it’s right for your needs, you need to ask yourself how often you’re using the business apps and tools you have currently, and if you would like to get the maximum value out of them?

Businesses of any size can derive value from the 100% web based solution from Google.

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SalonBooker Review – Make Appointments with Ease

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Salon owners are experts in hair color, pedicures, and makeup application. They don’t have time to become booking software experts too.

Trust me, I know this because my mother was a cosmetologist, and so are several of my friends.  I’m a beauty school dropout. As cosmetologists, we just want to do hair and service our clients. We don’t really want to learn about software.

SalonBooker says they can take over the technical muddle of handling booking and virtually all aspects of your business. Let’s investigate with this SalonBooker review.

Customers Can Make Appointments Anywhere, Any Time

The day of receptionists handling walk-ins and scheduling appointments over the phone is over. Customers now expect to book appointments online and on their mobile devices, whenever and wherever the mood strikes them. That means an online presence is necessary to stay competitive.

Creating a website from scratch that allows users to book appointments, pre-pay with credit cards, and print gift certificates is complicated. The cost in time, energy, and money is more than a salon owner can handle. Plugging in a ready-made online booking and salon management software is a sensible and cost-effective alternative.

Real-time Customer and Salon Management for Any Size Business

SalonBooker provides an online software tool that handles booking, payment, retail product sales, and personalized gift certificates. It also gives you a complete picture of each customer’s history and preferences.

As one customer said, “Implementing SalonBooker was the best decision I ever made for my business, bar none.” This salon owner used to manage everything with a cash register and an Excel spreadsheet. With SalonBooker, he can check inventory, monitor employee output, adjust prices with a click, compute commissions, look up outstanding gift certificates, and export everything to Quickbooks.

Comprehensive Salon Business Software

SalonBooker handles everything. Your customers can book any time, anywhere from any computer or mobile device. You get a complete, up-to-the-minute view of how many appointments are scheduled, when and with whom. You can instantly confirm by email and send automatic reminders.   It links all of your resources together to avoid overbooking.

Customer Relation Management is the heart of the software. You can check the history of any customer, update likes and dislikes, and see what they have purchased. Not only does this make it easier to upsell and cross-sell, it also lets each customer feel like you know them personally. That connection is what keeps them coming back.

You can sell your own products online, including gift certificates, with an online store that has the look and feel of your own website. At the salon itself, SalonBooker is a point of sale system that links with your credit card processor. Everything is handled by SalonBooker. Managing inventory and calculating commissions and taxes are a snap.

Monitor your business with custom reports on everything from sales and appointments to customers and products. With all of the data available, you can make informed decisions in real time.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

See a detailed schedule of appointments at a glance.

salonbooker_0001_scheduling

Customer profiles capture everything: staff preferences, notes, billing information, photos, referrals, and purchase history at your salon. 

salonbooker_0002_customer management

Your Shop Online page matches look and feel of your salon’s website.

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Personalized gift certificates are a big profit center and marketing tool for salons. SalonBooker makes it easy

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Monitor your business with one-click reports.

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All the Software You Need to Run Your Shop

SalonBooker is a comprehensive software package. It covers booking appointments, scheduling, inventory, point of sale, eCommerce, employee management, and reporting. You and your customers can access its features from any mobile device or computer. It handles small, medium, and multi-location businesses.

It’s a web-based platform, and that’s one of the best things about it. But web-based software has its problems too. If your internet connection goes down, you won’t have access to the software. It is not available as a downloadable package. However, SalonBooker has 99% system uptime and around-the-clock support. You can talk to the customer service team through phone, email, live chat, and scheduled online learning sessions. If you want to find the answers yourself, you can watch training videos, search the FAQs, and read user manuals. One customer said, “Anytime I call with a question, I am amazed how quickly someone picks up! They are right there for me every time.”

Will it Fit Your Budget?

SalonBooker has four pricing levels, each with a setup fee and monthly subscription. All include appointment book, point of sale, eCommerce, and staff and payroll management. Larger salons and franchises looking for more extensive features and custom development pay higher fees.

Is it For You?

If you’re daunted by the idea of setting up online booking, check out SalonBooker. It is comprehensive, with features for managing all aspects of your salon. Support is thorough and quick.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Terrific full featured software for any sized Salon" cons= "Need reliable high-speed Internet Access " score=9]

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Payment Evolution Review – Finally Payroll Software That Works

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Doing the payroll for a small to medium size business is no fun. Who am I kidding, it’s not fun for any business!

Getting the hours right, calculating taxes, adding commissions, bonuses, subtracting the coffee fund fee—it’s complicated and easy to make mistakes.

PaymentEvolution says it makes doing a Canadian payroll fast and user friendly. I know as a small business owner that it can be confusing to keep everything straight. I often wish I had a software that let me keep track of everyone. Let’s take a look with this Payment Evolution review.

End The Headache of Setting up Payroll and Keeping Up With Tax Laws

PaymentEvolution is an online, cloud-based payroll system for small to medium sized Canadian businesses and accountants. With the easy-to-use interface, it takes five minutes to set up your account and start doing a pay run. You don’t have to worry about law and tax rate changes because the updates are automatic. It also easily integrates with other software you’re familiar with such as  FreshBooks, Kashoo,  PayChequer, Quickbooks and others.

Small to Medium Size Canadian Businesses and Accountants

PaymentEvolution is available only in Canada. Small to medium size businesses get secure, easy to use payroll processing at a reasonable cost. Accountants can offer payroll services to their clients through the service. PaymentEvolution also keeps track of payments to contractors, which makes it super efficient to handle all your payroll needs.

Easy to Set Up, Easy to Use, No Updates

PaymentEvolution has an simple interface. One reviewer said, “I actually learned how to use it within just a few minutes–and within about 15 min of registering, we had finished our first payrun.” It works with Quickbooks, Freshbooks, PayChecquer and many other accounting tools.  You can offer electronic payment services like direct deposit.

You can access the app from any browser. Each employee can also access her individual payroll history. It’s convenient because you don’t have to deal with paper checks unless you want to because they will handle your automatic deposit payments.  That makes it eco-friendly too! The company uses data centers that are state of the art and is “paranoid about keeping your data safe.”

You don’t have to update anything in order to stay current with Canadian tax law changes. It’s all handled by PaymentEvolution. You can add custom deductions and benefits. Basically you enter employee data and pay rates and the software does the rest.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

When you are ready to do payroll, your first step is decide the pay cycle.

Payment Evolution--Time period

Then you check that salaries and pay rates are correct.

Payment Evolution--salaries

At the next screen, you update the hours worked.

Payment Evolution--timesheet

You can look at payroll reports based on a number of criteria. Here you see the full list of employees and their data.

Payment Evolution--employees

 

Here you can access employee time-sheet reports.

Payment Evolution--Timesheet report

Easy, Quick and Up- to-Date, Always

The goal of PaymentEvolution is easy payroll operations. The interface is simple to use and to figure out. Most people report getting up to speed in minutes. Information is available to managers and employees from any web browser. You no longer have to worry about changes to tax laws, all the updates are automatic. You can handle payroll with print checks or direct deposit. Get one-click reports on a variety of topics in order to keep track of your metrics.

Unfortunately the service is strictly for Canadians or those with Canadian employees. This is very sad, indeed.

Support is comprehensive.  Customer service is very friendly. You can get help by phone or online in the forum, via chat, support ticket, FAQ and Knowledge Base.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

The service is free if you have five or fewer employees and one user. Two paid monthly subscriptions are based on the number of users and employees.

Is it For You?

If you are looking for a simple, full featured payroll service for your Canadian business, PaymentEvolution is an excellent choice. You can get up and running in minutes and customize it easily. The price is awesome and I think anyone who owns a Canadian business should try this software.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 45/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Easy to Use & Set up" " cons= "It's only for Canadian Businesses " score=10]

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TimeOffManager Review – Keep Track of Employees Leave

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tom-logoKeeping track of who is off work, how much time each employee has used and the vacation schedule for the business year is complicated. So is keeping everyone happy about time off, from workers to managers.

TimeOffManager says it has organized this tricky part of business life. Let’s take a look in this TimeOffManager review.

Who is Taking Off Too Often?

One of the knotty problems that every business has to deal with is who is abusing the time off policy. Managing sick leave and vacation time with all the attendant data is confusing. Without a clear record, people can take advantage of the system. With an organized set up, managers can effectively plan around time off and employees are more likely to comply with company policy.

Save Time and Money, Reduce Errors.

TimeOffManager works for small, medium and large companies. It’s a cloud-based attendance management system that reduces how much time you spend tracking time off. It makes it easy for employees to request time using their own log-in, and simple for managers to see at a glance who is off at any given time. Large businesses like Honeywell and Sony Computer are using TimeOffManager.

Easy to Use and Customize.

Employees request time off online, managers approve or reject them online and email is used to convey information, saving time and effort. It is easy to customize different types of time off, adding holidays or labeling certain days off limits. You can set particular requirements for each employee. It keeps track of sick leave, vacation and other balances for each worker.

It is simple to track how many requests an employee has made and how much time off in each category he has taken. Employees can see their totals at a glance. The software makes it impossible to request time if they have used it all. Managers can check absenteeism easily and   see at a glance how much vacation is being taken any given day or week.

It integrates with iCal, Google Calendar and Outlook. Each employee can be set up with a personalized calendar year; allotted time off can be prorated. You can track specific metrics; for example, if an employee has taken more than a certain number of sick days in a row.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The dashboard shows you how much time is being taken off each day, week or month and by whom. 

 

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The form requesting time off is complete and easy to read.

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You can customize how you view information, types of time off, special days and other metrics.

Options

 You can easily define specific types of days off

TimeOffManager--types

Your employee’s request is complete, easy to fill out and includes his personal balances.

Request-Information

You can get a monthly report of time off grouped in different ways, for example by types of users, by types of time off and by dates.TimeOffTypes

It is easy to check an individual’s time off and balances.

User-Settings

Organize and Manage Time Off

TimeOffManager can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend keeping track of employees’ time off requests and balances. With the ease of a web browser your workers can make requests and check balances. Managers can respond just as easily. Errors are reduced or eliminated with everyone working from the same set of information. It is simple to customize and since it is cloud-based, there is nothing to install.

There are several steps you need to run through in order to set up your company’s plan. It can be tedious but only has to be done once. It is important to get the right information in at the beginning so that policies are correct.

Support is offered in a FAQ, with an online contact form and by phone.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

The free plan is for companies with up to three employees. If you have more employees, you can try it out without charge for 15 days, no credit card required. If you continue, you have a choice of six monthly subscription plans based on the number of users.

Is it For You?

If you want to bring a sense of organization and clarity to employee attendance, TimeOffManager is a good choice. it is comprehensive, customizable and will reduce the time and effort you put into scheduling and tracking your workers’ vacation and sick leave.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 3.5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Comprehensive, customizable employee tracking" cons= "A bit tedious to set up" score=8]

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KiSSFLOW Review – Keeping Google Apps Workflows Simple

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kissflow-logo-430x247This week we review KiSSFLOW that offers a streamlined option for managing for workflow. Creating and managing workflows can sometimes be frustrating but KiSSFLOW takes the work out of by offering a more simplified process.

They have created the first known business workflow application used with Google Apps to allow for an easy-to-follow workflow system.

The set-up and steps are easy to follow as are the approval processes. I reviewed this product previous, if you’d like to see that review click here. This is a follow up review to talk about the new changes and updates.

Simple Set-Up Process

The first thing you will notice with the KiSSFLOW method is that it is easy to get started. No downloading or installing is required and you get started right away with your Google App ID. The easy five step wizard will guide you through setting up your workflow and teaching you how to streamline the process; this saves you time and relieves frustration by automating your different tasks.

Workflow For Business Owners And Developers

Regardless of why you use Google Apps, the workflow process by KiSSFLOW is going to be advantageous for you. As a cloud-based application, everything is available at your fingertips from any electronic device. This includes immediate access to your apps along with spreadsheets, documents, budgets, expense claims and other important files. Please refer to the original review for more about KiSSFlOW but now let’s talk about the updates.

Update: Real-Time Sync To Spreadsheets

KiSSFLOW now lets you automatically sync your updated workflow data to Google spreadsheets and is done in real-time. This is going to save users even more time and streamline the process even further. You can choose to export your workflow data to a spreadsheet of your choice for improved function. The spreadsheet allows you to analyze Google App data for an impressively easy workflow system. You can also increase a table within your spreadsheet that allows you to analyze and compare data from your workflow and expenses over time. Other charts are available on the Google spreadsheet, including pie charts, animated motion charts and line charts.

Update: New Masters And Users Look-Up Data

Among the recent updates to KiSSFLOW include the ability to look-up data and create masters data. This will let you assign different users as masters of workflow systems to better keep everything organized. Master data includes Vendor Master, Customer Master, Account Master, Item Master, and others. These can be created and imported easily with KiSSFLOW by granting permissions from your Google Apps marketplace and export the information to spreadsheets. Included is the new look-update within the Masters section of your workflow.

Update: Google Analytics Reports

KiSSFLOW is also now offering reports that let you utilize various methods of analytics in your workflow spreadsheets. Some of the reports include reports permissions, list reports, report aggregates, and export data. Reports are available for data within the last 12 months.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

KiSSFLOW not only makes creating and managing workflows more streamlined, but it is easy to use as well. The simple interface is easy even for someone brand-new to this type of workflow system. You will log in with your Google Apps ID and go through the wizard that helps you set up your account. Exporting to spreadsheets from your KiSSFLOW workflow is incredibly easy as you can see:

 

01 Integration with Google Spreadsheets

 

From the Masters tab, you will be able to access, view, edit or delete individual items quickly and easily.

 

02 Masters

 

Click on the Reports tab to view more in-depth information about each individual item within your workflow, including expense reports and other items to be managed.

 

03 Reports I

03 Reports II

Will it Fit Your Budget?

With KiSSFLOW, you get to choose from three pricing plans including Free, Business and Enterprise. If you want to try out KiSSFLOW, you can start with the Free plan which includes up to 10 users and workflow processes. When you feel comfortable with the workflow and how it works, you can upgrade to the Business or Enterprise plans, all of which are affordable.

Is it For You?

KiSSFLOW makes it easy to manage your workflow as you use Google apps for the many benefits to your business. This lets you keep track of your workflow without learning complicated coding techniques. The newest updates to KiSSFLOW, including syncing to spreadsheets and having more user capabilities, make it that much more beneficial to business professionals and business owners.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Even more impressive with ease of analytics" cons= "A lot to learn for the new user even if the system is simple comparatively" score=9]

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PostScan Mail Review — Manage your Post Mail as Email

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How many times have you wished your postal mail was as easy to manage as your electronic mail? If you’re anything like me, it’s a wish you’ve made on more than one occasion. Email is simple to deal with and you don’t have to worry about recycling, shredding, or someone sifting through your garbage to gather sensitive information and data.

Honestly, not everyone recycles at home like they should. You may want to do your part for the planet, but fear the potential ramifications if you were to do so with the many paper products you receive in the mail. After all, how secure are current shredding machines or recycling facilities?

In this PostScan Mail review, we will see how this app allows you to manage your post mail, as you would email.

PostScan Mail offers realistic solutions for real people. Whether you’re a single person, a small business, or you’re trying to find a more effective mailroom solution for your large business, they have you covered.

What is PostScan Mail and how can it help you with your paper problem?

Very few people, in this modern world can claim to have no paper problems. No matter how diligent efforts may be to clear out the clutter paper leaves behind, there always seems to be a steady stream of new paper coming into the home. Newspapers, legal documents, bills, junk mail, and real mail – the cycle of paper coming in never seems to end. At the very least, the mail never seems to leave as quickly as it arrives.

All this paper leads to clutter problems and misplaced documents. In the world of business, a poor chain of “custody” for important documents such as legal briefs, medical records, and other important information businesses must be treated with confidentiality and discretion on a daily basis. PostScan Mail solves this problem by checking your mail for you, then scanning in documents so that you can control them digitally.

Who benefits most from a product like this?

The PostScan Mail system is one that actually has far reaching implications. It’s not a product that’s good for one specific group of people. Almost everyone can benefit from this service to some degree. Families, small businesses, charitable organizations, large businesses, and community groups are all potential clients for this service.

One major benefit for large and small groups alike is that this is a service that’s rather simple to use. The hardest part, for most people, is going to be signing up because you must have a consent form filled out and notarized using two forms of identification. It seems the U.S. postal service takes mail tampering seriously and want to make sure it’s really you consenting to this service.

How does PostScan Mail help you deal with your postal woes?

It’s really an ingenious plan. You probably get a fair amount of mail on a weekly basis despite your efforts to minimize the mail coming into your home. There are magazines, catalogs, bills, solicitations, junk mail, and more. You may even feel as if you’re going through an entire tree or more each month with all your junk mail and leftover paper.

PostScan Mail actually receives your mail instead of it coming straight to you. Then they scan the mail they receive on your behalf and load it to the computer where you can access the mail. No more paper cuts from opening your mail.

From there, the decision about what to do next rests on your shoulders. You may have them store the mail on-site, forward the mail to you, or shred the mail and recycle the paper. You have the ultimate choice and if you’ll have a physical copy stored off-site in addition to a digital copy you can access on your computer and/or share with others as needed.

The only thing you need to do to make these decisions is type a few commands into your computer. All the heavy lifting is done for you once the decision has been made.

The Basics: What does it look like?

The site itself is clean and professional in appearance. You can easily navigate from one page to the next and the information is easy to read and comprehend.

PSM Screenshot 1 - Landing Page

The site offers a wide range of services many people may not associate with scanning mail. However, when you get down to it, any of the features of the PostScan Mail service benefit individuals and businesses alike. Neither receives a distinct advantage from this service over the other.

PSM Screenshot 2 - Features

The consent form is something that might seem intimidating at first, but they even walk you through that process. All you literally need to do is print it out and bring it, along with two forms of identification, along with you to the post office.

PSM Screenshot 3 - Consent Form

Putting it all together and seeing it in action though is amazing once you realize that you never need to brave wind, rain, sleet, or snow to answer your mailbox on any given day again.

PSM Screenshot 4 - How it Works

The Good and the Bad about PostScan Mail

There’s plenty of good to consider as you explore your options for dealing with the mail problem in your home or business. The service is fairly budget friendly, saves you time in your busy day, and helps you take care of a problem that’s plaguing countless homes and offices throughout the country – too much paper.

The one biggest downside, at least at this stage of the game, is the limited number of facilities in the country to handle the PostScan Mail responsibilities. This is one business that will be interesting to watch and see what it becomes as it evolves to meet the needs of an expanding customer base.

Pricing: Will it fit your budget?

Budgets, as much as we’d love to claim otherwise, are still an important part of our home and business life. The good news about this PostScan Mail review is that the product is reasonably priced for what it offers and it’s willing to cut out some of the full service features you may find in other programs in favor of distance and a lead. This makes the product accessible to a wider audience so you can begin taking advantage of this service right away.

Is it right for you?

It’s something everyone can use to free up his valuable time, get rid of clutter, and manage paper in a whole new way. Whether you’re looking to clear out the clutter in your personal life, want to get your business back on track, or simply want to see what the PostScan solutions for the mail-room can do for yours, there will never be a time that’s better than right this minute to get started. I can see a huge advantage to using this system for a medium to large sized business due to the enormous amounts of paperwork that pile up.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

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Infusionsoft Review — Automation Marketing Software For Small and Medium Businesses

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Time is the one commodity in life that can never be recovered. There are only so many hours in a given day. No one understands this better than busy business owners struggling to juggle the demands of their businesses with the demands of their families and their own desired qualities of living. This Infusionsoft review will help you see how Infusionsoft helps business executives, entrepreneurs, and struggling up and comers recover some of their time by automating the marketing process for them.

Automating the Marketing Process

How often have you wished there were two of you? One to handle various aspects of operating your business that are tedious and boring to you and the other to handle the business tasks you feel are more in your “wheelhouse?” Infusionsoft automates the marketing process for you. However, the benefits do not end with marketing. Officially, it doesn’t even begin with marketing. Infusionsoft is, at its core, dedicated to the customer relationship management process. It also happens to be a solid platform for e-commerce and integrated email marketing. The most important element to take home about Infusionsoft is that it is a product that allows you to “do more with the time you have.” As we all know “time is money.”

Who Benefits Most from Infusionsoft?

Marketing professionals in every field and industry can gain tremendous benefits from using Infusionsoft to help build relationships, attract customers, automate the marketing process, and sell products online. However, this is not a system that’s designed for those who are casually interested in marketing online or those who are unwilling to make a significant investment in their business.

Why Should You Invest in Infusionsoft?

Do you have enough time at the end of your workday? If the answer is anything other than yes, you have your reason for investing. It’s important to note that the investment isn’t one that’s painless. However, return on that investment, for most businesses, is substantial enough to warrant it. In addition to gaining time that would otherwise be devoted to learning and mastering the art of building better relationships with customers, you’re improving your financial outlook at the same time. You’re saving time while making more money.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Infusionsoft doesn’t stand out from the crowd based on looks alone. At first glance, it’s just another automation tool designed to help busy marketers make more of their time on the World Wide Web.

01 - IS Landing Page

Once you take a look at the many features available through Infusionsoft, the difference become obvious. Where other systems on the market specialize in one aspect (attracting customer, automating marketing, relationship building, or selling online) Infusionsoft offers a full service automation system that does all these things and more.

02- IS Features

Once you’ve put those features to work automating your business, you might need a little help understanding all that you’ve accomplished in so little time. So there are reports, graphs, and other visual tools you can use to see how just how much you’ve managed to leverage your most valuable resource, time, by automating so many business tasks.

04- IS Reports

The Good and the Not-so-Good

With most opportunities in the world of business, this one comes along with its own set of pros and cons. On the positive side, the results speak for themselves with Infusionsoft. Reports are generated and stored in the cloud so they are easily accessible from multiple devices and locations. Your dashboard, with Infusionsoft is fully customizable so that you can have the records and information most important to you at a glance and the navigation bars are customizable so they can take you where you want to go, on the side, without any fingertip gymnastics to get there.

One of the biggest benefits, however, initially presents as a very possible negative. There are many out there who believe Infusionsoft is complex. In many ways it is. That’s why Infusionsoft offers their famous Kickstart Coaching to train new users on the system and get them up and running as quickly as possible. This is one-on-one intensive training for 30 days that’s dedicated to helping you achieve verifiable results for your business.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

This is the question most small business owner and aspiring Internet marketers will have to consider carefully. For some, the answer is no. Others may see it as right now. It’s important to remember that this is an investment in yourself as much as it is one in your business. You’re trading dollars for freedom from a life chained to your computer keyboard.

Is it for You?

The only reason this program wouldn’t be for you is if you either have more time on your hands than you know what to do with or you make so much money that you have no idea how you’re going to spend it all already. If you’re not either of these people, then you’re probably one of the people who stands to gain a lot of freedom, time and money by trying out Infusionsoft today so you can see for yourself how much it could mean for your unique business needs.

Ratings: ease of use 4.5/5, features 5/5, value 4.5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

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Colibri Tool Review – Measure Trends & Analyze Conversions

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Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a SEO tool tool for businesses and Internet marketers that allows you to track inbound links to your sites as well as your competitors, track SEO performance, analyze keyword positions in search engines, and pinpoint under-served niches in your industry?

These are just some of the features Colibri Tool claims to offer users. This Colibri Tool review will find out.

Miracle Tool for Measuring Trends and Analyzing Conversions

Colibri Tool gives businesses and individual marketers a decided edge over their competition because it shares inside information about all the top keywords on your sites as well as competitor sites. Many people new to marketing on the Internet, as well as a few seasoned old pros, have a hard time measuring the success of certain keywords to see which ones are really converting for them and which ones aren’t really making the grade. Colibri Tool spells that out for you so that there is no room for doubt.

What’s so miraculous about this?

Colibri Tool is the first of its kind that provides accurate measurements for things such as keyword positions, traffic trends, and even conversion rates for certain keywords that isn’t search engine specific. This means that it isn’t isolated to Google results, or even Bing results. The tool analyzes all of them. It goes even further, however by showing you how well your keywords are ranking in each of the search engines for your sites as well as for the sites of your competition.

Who Needs Colibri Tool?

The ability to quickly access and analyze the data across multiple platforms saves business owners and marketers a great deal of time, and money. It also makes it much more difficult for key information to get lost in translation from one search engine or web screen to the next.

Anyone who does business online that relies on search engine traffic for some or all of their business stands to benefit from proper use of Colibri Tool. Whether you’re a dedicated Internet marketing professional or a brick and mortar business owner attempting to create a significant web presence to complement your storefront, this tool offers many benefits.

Why do You Need Colibri Tool?

Not everyone needs this tool. People who aren’t interested in really cornering the market, even on the local level, in their industries don’t need this tool. It’s a powerful tool that does have a bit of a learning curve in order to use it effectively. It’s easy to use, don’t get me wrong. It just takes a little time to understand how all the information applies to your specific business. With a little effort you’ll use this information to build your Internet presence bigger, bolder, and better than it’s ever been before. If that isn’t in your mission plan for the coming fiscal year, then this tool might not be the one for you.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Navigating to Colibri Tool landing page takes you to a crisp clean screen where you can easily sign up for the Colibri free trial.

CT - 01 Landing Page

Before you sign up though, it’s a good idea to sneak a peek at some of the high profile companies that use Colibri tool as part of their overall Internet marketing strategies.

CT - 02 Endorsements

The back office dashboard is uncluttered and easy to use. The side bar navigation makes it easy to find the appropriate information you’re looking for and there are clear explanations every step of the way to help you get the maximum benefit from your user experience.

CT - 03 Dashboard

If you’re having a little bit of trouble making heads or tails of what you’re seeing on the computer screen, you can use the “Report” button to get detailed reports relevant to your site including traffic information, backlinks, and brief reports that simply hit the highlights.

CT - 04 Reports

The Good, the Bad, and the Noteworthy

There are plenty of benefits to consider with Colibri Tool. The fact that it’s easy to input your information and navigate the back office of the website is a plus for users of all levels of experience. The wide range of features offered by Colibri tool give it depth – making it so much more than a mere keyword reporting tool. This one tool replaces several other products and puts all the information together in one convenient location.

Colibri tool, in spite of its many benefits, is not exactly perfect. There is a bit of a learning curve associated with the tool that will put off some. Oddly enough, those with brick and mortar business backgrounds may have a better time understanding the charts and graphs than those who have more Internet-based marketing skills.

The best thing, for many users, however, is the ability to compare keyword performance across multiple search engines in one location. This is a huge benefit over similar products currently on the market.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

Times are tough for businesses in every industry these days. Belts are getting tighter. It’s understandable that your business may not be interested in spending more money than is necessary when there are free products that can do the job – or something similar. However, Colibri Tool offers the convenience of monthly payments at several different price point packages to accommodate a wide range of business needs and situation. The price for this service, however, is worth its weight in gold for almost any small business out there.

Is it for You?

Colibri Tool is one of the few tools available today that impacts almost every marketer out there. If you’re looking for ways to bring in more traffic, to take greater advantage of competitive keywords, and bring in more search engine generated traffic to your business website while monitoring what your competition is doing at the same time, then this is the tool for you. The free trial is merely calorie-free icing on the cake.

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

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Marketo Review — Powerful Marketing Automation

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If you want to improve your entire sales, marketing and customer service cycle and save both time and money then you’ve probably looked into various forms of marketing automation software.  Founded in 2006, Marketo seeks to simplify, streamline, automate and measure marketing tasks and work flows in order to increase efficiencies and grow revenue.

With this Marketo review we will find out how powerful marketing automation can be.

Do What Gets Results

We all know about the 80/20 rule by now. In short, 20 percent of our hard work gives us 80 percent of our results. Marketo seeks to help you know what 20 percent is working best for your business and then helps your business optimize and automate these processes and channels.  Marketo’s marketing automation software includes many different functions to support inbound and outbound marketing, such as email marketing, landing page & form creation, lead management, CRM integration, social marketing, event marketing, marketing budgeting, and marketing analytics. It also has convenient cloning features so you can easily copy successful emails, landing pages, and even entire programs.

Marketing Software that is Easy, Powerful, and Complete

Marketo offers many features that will help improve, streamline and automate your marketing. Let’s go over a few of the features:

  • Analytics – Without useful reports and analytics, you won’t know which programs are most effective at hitting your goals. It’s imperative to know which programs are performing the best, and which are bringing in the most qualified leads and converting them to actual business revenue. Marketo offers all that  plus standard reports on email, landing pages, campaign performance, web tracking, and more, as well as the ability to fully customize reports.
  • CRM – Customer relationship management integration is an essential component to successful marketing automation, allowing tracking and reporting on the entire sales cycle, from first contact with potential clients/customers.  What’s more, if you make a change in your CRM or Marketo it will sync and make changes in both areas, ensuring consistent data and cutting down on duplicate data entry. Currently integration is available for a wide variety of CRM tools like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Oracle and Sugar CRM.
  • Email Marketing – You can easily design emails with a drag and drop interface that anyone can use. All the lovely scheduling features of other email marketing programs are also available along with great reporting features so that you know if it’s working or not.
  • Landing Pages – Landing pages are critical – without an easy to build landing page to capture incoming leads, the best programs can ultimately flop. Landing pages are critical. Like the email feature, its drag and drop interface makes creating excellent landing pages and forms easy and fun. Marketo offers various testing abilities and personalization features that other landing page templates do not allow, making this feature topnotch.
  • Lead Management – You’ll be able to score and nurture leads based on demographics, behavior and engagement, product of interest, and much more. For instance if a lead downloads a white paper, the system automatically notices and can then can deliver a targeted followup relevant to that topic. You can also set up alerts to let sales reps know when a lead shows buying behaviors and even send automatic emails from your sales reps.
  • Social Marketing – Today every marketer knows the importance of including social media into their marketing channels. Marketo makes it easy to get a social lift on every program with their easy to use social marketing features. You’ll be able to conduct referral campaigns, sweepstakes, contests, and other social campaigns to keep your database engaged and promoting your message for your.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Marketo looks clean and visually pleasing. But, it’s also user-friendly in that it’s not hard to find what you need. The visual editors are especially awesome, so creating emails and landing pages is simple and they look fabulous.

General Marketo Lead Management Marketing Activities View

Social Dashboard View

Marketo Sales Insight View

Reporting Analytics Program Cost View (your reports can be customized)

markettoreviewimages_Page_4_Image_0002

It’s An Awesome Investment

Marketo is an investment, but those who have budgets that allow the expense will not be disappointed. This software provides everything any marketer would want in a marketing automation software. It does what it says it does, and it’s simple to set up and easy to use. The advantages of having Marketo are enormous, and while it’s not cheap, the price is right in line with comparable software. While medium to large sized businesses will likely see a good return on investment it can be a bit harder for very small businesses to get the full impact from software as robust as Marketo. But, if you use a CRM and are trying to optimize your marketing spend and processes, then Marketo cannot be beat.

Will it Fit your Budget?

The barrier to entry is always the budget, but if you have a good marketing budget and want to make the most of it, and can start out around  $1200 a month to use all the features and get all the benefits from this marketing automation software then it’s for you. If you’re a sole proprietor or a very small business it probably isn’t for you.

Is it For You?

As mentioned previously if you already use Salesforce or some of the other CRM’s mentioned then yes, you should give Marketo a test. At the very least, experience their terrific Demo with knowledgeable sales staff who can help you see how Marketo can benefit your organization.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4.5/5 and ease of deployment 4.5/5

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Zendesk Review – Support and Engage Your Customers

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Customer engagement must be high on the list of priorities for almost any business today. Unfortunately, not all businesses have the tools, tactics, and talents to properly engage their customers before and after the sale.

That’s where Zendesk comes into the picture. Read this Zendesk review to get a better idea of whether or not Zendesk will work for you.

How Can Zendesk Help Real Businesses?

Customer support is one of the biggest engagement opportunities for businesses today. It is also a field where there is great need for improvement by businesses large and small. A recent series of television commercials even touches on how bad things have gotten. People are actually surprised, and delighted, to call and talk to an actual person rather than a computer generated voice menu.

It should be noted, however, that Zendesk is more than mere customer service and engagement software. Zendesk also offers webinars, forum training, and white papers, in addition to Zendesk university for onsite private training to help businesses provide better customer service.

Who Benefits Most from Zendesk?

Any business that relies on customers stands to benefit by using Zendesk software, tools, and services. The scalability of Zendesk makes it ideal for businesses set to grow in the coming years and makes it an excellent choice to assist in that growth.

Why Should You Invest in Zendesk?

The buying public is demanding more and more engagement from companies that are getting their hard-earned dollars. They want to feel as though businesses are hearing their voices, acknowledging their concerns, and actively interested in providing better service before and after the sale. Zendesk makes your business look great to potential customers even if you don’t have a full-time staff dedicated to answering emails, responding on social media sites, double checking invoices, and countless other things that often fall through the cracks in small and large businesses.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Zendesk is an attractive site that isn’t overly cluttered. In fact, it’s quite peaceful and easy on the eyes.

01 - ZD Landing Page

Navigation throughout the site is simple with top navigation menu. Once you sign up for the free trial, you’ll be taken to the dashboard, which is equally easy to navigate and will become your hub of activity. Thanks to its Zendesk Apps  platform you can easily add on other business applications to work with Zendesk, and their open API means you can also use services such as CloudWork  to connect Zendesk with a multitude of business applications.

02 - ZD Dashboard

You also gain access to the wonderful help documents and forum in the back office area of Zendesk. This is where you’ll get all the help you need to get started on the right foot.

03 - ZD Help Documents and Forums

The one thing to remember, when you do business with Zendesk is that you’re not alone. There are plenty of really big names in the world of business, across many fields, that are using the services Zendesk provides. This is a true testament to the scalability of Zendesk that major corporations as well as one-man operations can benefit from these services.

04 - ZD High Profile

The Good and the Bad about Zendesk

The name Zendesk implies a peaceful experience for businesses. On a large scale it delivers. The Zendesk software is simple enough that ordinary people can use it effectively. The software is scalable so that it can accommodate small businesses as well as major corporations. The forums are there to provide advice, helpful hints, and even commiseration on the rare occasion that problems do arise. The training is first rate. These are all great things in the world of business today.

The downside comes with the scope of the service. While the software is easy to navigate and use and there is extensive training, it can seem a bit overwhelming at first. This is especially the case with smaller operations where one person is doing all the digging. Once the learning curve is over, however, it’s smooth sailing.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

For many small business owners, the affordability of Zendesk will be quite surprising. Just as the product itself is scalable to meet the needs of growing businesses, so are the prices. Four different plans are available at per person rates that can be paid yearly (with a discount), quarterly, or monthly. The prices increase with the range of services.

Is it For You?

The truthful answer for this is that if you have customers, this is a product for you. Customers need to feel important to your business. It’s an important part of the relationship building process. Zendesk has a lot to offer and a 30-day free trial gives you plenty of time to work out the kinks and see just how much it can mean for your business. Sign up for the free trial today and see what it can do for your business.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 3/5

WinWeb Review – The Future of Business

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The world was not enough for James Bond, perhaps because he didn’t have the WinWeb family of apps at his disposal. Q is good, but even he has his limitations. This WinWeb review will attempt to tell you what WinWeb can do for your business. Starting with the Projects & Helpdesk and moving on to more critical business functions, WinWeb apps make it easier than ever for businesses to make their presence felt on and off the World Wide Web.

What is WinWeb and How Can it Help Your Business Grow?

In the words of WinWeb, “We help create financially sustainable enterprise.” For some people that will sum it up quite succinctly. However, it helps to know how they go about accomplishing that lofty goal for the businesses they work with. WinWeb is a series of service and function apps, some sold in bundles, that work together to help businesses become and remain profitable.

Some will say that WinWeb is cloud computing in its element. Various apps, provided by WinWeb, help businesses stay connected, in every conceivable way, with their customers.

Who Does WinWeb Serve Best?

With so many potential benefits, bells, and whistles, you may believe that WinWeb is most decidedly outside of your price range — especially if you own or operate a small business or a medium-sized business working with a shoestring budget. However, nothing could be further from the truth. WinWeb apps are available on demand, or as needed. You aren’t forced to purchase a package deal you neither want nor need in order to get the service. You pay for the services you need and don’t pay for those you aren’t interested in.

The real beauty, though, is that you’re free to change your mind at a later date and add or remove services whenever the need, or desire, arises. WinWeb offers an unlimited number of updates and customizations at no additional costs to you. Bug businesses, small businesses, and growing businesses are able to benefit, from day one, from the wide range of apps and services WinWeb offers. You don’t even have to invest in pricey equipment to operate these apps. They’ll work on PCs, Macs, iPhone, Android devices, and iPads.

How Can WinWeb Help You Solve Your Business Problems?

No matter what kind of business you’re in, your business has two goals:

1) Minimize Spending

2) Increase Profit

Those are the names of the game for all businesses — of any size. WinWeb offers a wide range of apps that are all devoted to helping businesses operate more efficiently.

Some of the services WinWeb offers

Enterprise and Manufacturing Resource Planning (ERP/MRP) in the form of financial management, order management, billing and invoicing, shipping and fulfillment, supply chain solutions, warehousing, subscription and time billing, and many more features.

Invoices

invoices-screenshot

Production Data Acquisition (PDA) in the form of monitoring production and providing real-time reports on the manufacturing aspects of the business.

Online Disk Sharing

online-disk-sharing-winweb

Online Disk

online-disk

Online Disk Sync

online-disk-sync-winweb

Client Relationship Management (CRM) by way of on-demand information about clients including their buying histories, social media participation, and so much more.

Contact Profile

contact-profile-winweb

Email, SMS, and Newsletter with easy-to-use Email Creation Programs

Webmail Creation

webmail-create-winweb

Webmail Reading

webmail-read-winweb

webmail-winweb

WinWeb helps businesses by giving them the tools they need to build a bigger social presence, engage their customers, and stay on top of their own financial, production, and distribution needs and responsibilities. All this information is accessible by business owners on their mobile phones, at the office, or at home thanks to the flexibility keeping this information in the cloud provides.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

You’ve already seen some of the outstanding views of WinWeb. But let’s take a look at even more. The WinWeb Dashboard is easy to navigate with easy access icons according to the package you’ve created for your business.

winweb-dashboard

In the back office area you’ll also find access to your address books and calendars, which are important tools for keeping everyone on the same page whether they’re in the office next door or working in the field.

Address Book

address-book-contact-activity-winweb

Calendar

cloud-calendar-winweb

While some products have a back office area that’s ruled by chaos, the back office at WinWeb is easy to navigate with plenty of white spaces and opportunities for training.

WinWeb Pros and Cons

The biggest benefit most businesses will find with WinWeb is the limitless customization the product offers. The fact that it’s hosted in the cloud, however provides an unexpected benefit as businesses can easily adopt a BYOD (bring your own device) policy for employees and contractors while, at the same time, avoiding a massive investment in server infrastructure that would be required if the businesses were interested in building these own features for themselves.You really can run your entire business from WinWeb.

The other pros of doing business with WinWeb are quite extensive and involve the long list of charitable organizations WinWeb supports including:

The downside, or cons, of the WinWeb business cloud is that it can be confusing in the beginning. It can do so much. I mean you can even set it up so that you can post to your blogs from the WinWeb Dashboard. The other potential problem is that businesses aren’t always sure which products will serve them best. There may be a bit of trial and error involved in finding the perfect set of applications for your business needs.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

WinWeb offers a wide range of features and applications. Some products require a one-time fee while others require monthly subscriptions. Some of the monthly subscription programs are “per person.” This means that the product represents a wide range of price points that are appropriate for small businesses, large businesses, and growing businesses in their own rights. There are sure to be projects that fit your businesses budget even if shoestring is the first word that comes to mind. Many of the financial planning tools can help your business operate more efficiently to the point that they pay for themselves almost overnight.

business-planning

Is it for You?

With so many products on the market today to help businesses grow, it’s hard to pick one and say this is the best. However, it’s even harder to find a reason not to appreciate WinWeb and the wide range of services it offers at prices almost any business can afford.

The cloud is the future of business and WinWeb helps your business navigate the cloud seamlessly. If only Mr. Bond had such a tool to help him work his way through the perils of his Queen’s service.

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

dozeo Review – Beautify Digital Encounters

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Once upon a time, dozeo founder, Maximilian Mack of Stuttgart, Germany, had to travel all around presenting seminars, or worse, rely on inferior webinar software to help him make his point from a distance. He didn’t like operating that way and an idea was born that would, two years later, revolution the way businesses conduct online meetings and webinars.

This dozeo review seeks to find out, did he succeed?

What is dozeo and How Can It Help Your Business?

Max had an idea, a mission really, to “beautify digital encounters.” He accomplished this goal by creating dozeo, a B2B platform for online meetings. Businesses save money because they’re able to conduct the same high quality seminars they’d like to without the high costs of traveling from one location to the next in order to do so. In fact, dozeo is completely scalable to handle large groups or settings that are more intimate. This means businesses can do multiple webinars in less time than it would typically take to accomplish one seminar saving time, labor, and travel expenses.

Which Businesses Stand to Benefit Most from dozeo?

Any business interested in expansion of market share, consumer base, or looking for partnerships stands to gain much by using dozeo for online meetings. Businesses that operate across state lines or across national borders also have much to gain (or, as the case may be, to save) by taking advantage of the dozeo service. The benefits, however, do not end with online seminars. The software is also highly useful for collaboration, customer service, sales, and even coordinating research and product developments. The possibilities are almost limitless for any business. Even companies that accommodate remote workers can easily include them in vital company meetings – no matter how remote their locations may actually be.

What Makes dozeo Different from Similar Products on the Market for Businesses?

There are several well-known solutions for webinars on the market today. Why should businesses consider dozeo over the other available options? The long and short of the answer is that dozeo is more elegant than the other products on the market. It’s the difference between a Chevrolet and a Cadillac.  The other platforms will get you there, but the ride won’t be nearly as comfortable, seamless, or luxurious. They simply lack the bells and whistles that come with dozeo. These bells and whistles make the system so impressive.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The landing page is inviting and informative without being overbearing. You’re not overwhelmed with too much information.

Dozeo 1 - Landing Page

Once you reach the back office area there are small signs to point you in the right direction and the layout is very simplistic.

Dozeo 2 - Simple Instructions

You won’t even have to worry about complicated processes for scheduling meetings. The process is a cinch that requires no real technical expertise to get rolling.

Dozeo 3 - Easy Meeting Scheduling

Adding new contacts is very simple process in the back office area. It’s one of the simplest interfaces for this type of software available.

Dozeo 4 - Setup

The Good and the Bad about dozeo

dozeo almost seems too good to be true – especially for anyone who has struggled with complex software and platforms in the past. Not only is it easy to follow and navigate, but there are also plenty of bells and whistles that let you do more than simply “meet” online. Some of the popular features dozeo offers include: screen sharing, the ability to watch YouTube videos at the same time, uploading documents to share in the meeting. The fact that no downloads are required and that the system works with all browsers is an added benefit.

Features like SSL encryption, calendar integration, and extreme scalability make it a real win with businesses expecting growth in the future or that simply want more options when scheduling and planning their meetings.

So, what’s the bad news? The bad news is that you must pay for the convenience.  However, that pales in comparison with the money you’ll save with improved efficiency, saved labor costs, and lower travel-related business expenses for things you can now handle online without missing a beat.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

While there are costs involved with dozeo, the system is a solid investment for your business that will generate a substantial return.  There are three different monthly subscription plans at three price points. You can change your plan at any time. This means it’s perfectly acceptable to start small and upgrade if, and when, needed. There is also a 14-day free trial. This allows you the opportunity to try the software out for yourself and see how you like it.

Is it For You?

There are few businesses dozeo can’t help. The 14-day free trial allows you the opportunity to see exactly how much it can help your benefit. The truth is you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying it out to see how much it can help your business break new records for sales, customer service, recruitment, and innovation.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 3/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

7 Things Your Customer Service Team Is Probably Doing Wrong

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Customer service is one of the most important aspects of your business. Having good customer service will increase your sales by creating repeat customers and fans of your business. Your job needs to be to exceed the customer’s expectations, every time.That is why most business experts always tell you to under promise and over deliver.

If you give more than your customers expect, even if a mistake has been made, you’ll find that your clients remain happy and continue to be customers. You, as a manager can start with empowering your customer service agents to address customer’s issues.

What Aspects Of Customer Service Is Your Team Probably Getting Wrong?

1. Worrying About What Vs. How

Believe it or not it matters little what the problem is, but more in how your team handles the problem. Mistakes happen, it’s part of life, but how you rectify that mistake is what the client will remember forever. For example, on my birthday my husband took me to our favorite restaurant for dinner. It was a night of errors.

Our appetizer was never delivered, we had to ask for bread, and refills were slow in coming. I voiced my concerns with the waitress about our appetizer and before you knew it the manager came to speak to us. He apologized and offered us a free appetizer tonight, plus one next time we come in and I got a free dessert!

Was the service lousy? Yes. Absolutely. But will we go back? Absolutely! Not once did the manager or waiter say that they had a busy night, or that the waiter was new, or make a single excuse for the issues. He just wanted to make it right. He succeeded in our eyes and we had a lovely evening.

2. Not Listening To The Client

For a customer, how they see the issue is more important than how you see the issue. That is why it is important to always listen to the complaint. Your customer service professionals should be trained to listen to the entire complaint and also to ask what can they do to help make it better. Usually the client is happy to let you know what will make the situation better.

In today’s social media environment it is also important to realize that any dealing with a customer can wind up the next most shared social media event in history. What could have been a very small issue could turn into a very costly issue. It’s much more important to deal with the client’s perception than your perception because, after all, perception is reality.

3. Agents Not Working Together

Today with all the various technology available all customer service agents should be able to collaborate on various client issues. For instance, each time a client calls, the agent should be trained to type into the online system the complaint, the problem, and what they did to fix it. That way if the customer realizes later that the issue is not resolved, they don’t have to repeat the entire story over and over again.

4. Not Empathizing With The Customer

Customer service professionals need to be trained to relate to the customer. If the agent shows no empathy at all to the issues the client is going through, the client will feel mistreated and misunderstood. Once your agent shows empathy the anger and upset feelings the customer has will usually go away. A simple “I totally understand how you feel, that must be frustrating”, will go really far in turning a complaining customer into a lifelong fan.

5. Not Apologizing To The Client

Customer service reps need to have the power to apologize for the company and seek to remedy the situation by offering something more to the client. Giving the customer something extra that is free of charge to them, but that shows you want to make “it” right, even if it was a misunderstanding, or not your businesses fault, will go far in creating good will. In the rare case that the customer is out of line, it still won’t hurt to just give them a freebie, and move on. You end the issue, and don’t need to escalate it further.

6. Not  Using Technology Efficiently

Today there are so many types of technology that there is no reason why your company should not have the best technology for dealing with customer service that you can afford. The cost will be offset by the loyal customers you’ll create by having topnotch customer service. There are many types of customer service software on the market that will make even the smallest business experts in client care.

7. Blaming The Customer

We all know the saying, “the customer is always right”, but most of us don’t agree with it. This is a serious problem getting in the way of providing excellent customer service to clients. We need to get back to the days when the customer was always right. Outside of out and out theft attempts, a customer with a complaint needs to be heard, and your business needs to take responsibility for it. If your customer service agents are empowered with the ability to solve issues before they escalate you will see a huge return on your customer service investment.


 Best Customer Service Apps

ZendeskZenDesk-help-desk-app

Everyone needs a little “Zen” in their lives and with Zendesk you’ll get it everyday. Popular with businesses of all sizes thanks to strong language support and excellent customization flexibility.

Adding to these is the fact that it’s easy to use, no wonder more than 40,000 businesses the world over rely on it.

Able to be used by as many customer service representatives as your business needs, Zendesk is the go to app for Customer Service.


Freshdeskfreshdesk

Keep your customer service reps motivated with Freshdesk’s unique gaming feature, combined with a simple interface and user-friendly ticketing system.

With Freshdesk you’ve got an all in one customer support package featuring email, social, mobile and chat- based customer support ticketing. Fully customizable with an incredibly user friendly interface.

You can even brand your customer support portals with your own logos and themes and if you are so inclined you can code (CSS AND Javascript)


desk.comDesk.com

Easily one of the best customer service apps currently doing the rounds. It’s a multi-channel customer service app that makes dealing with requests via email, social media, phone and chat a breeze. Depending on customer demand you can add agents as needed.

Being a Salesforce App you can nurture relationships by using the excellent customer history and data available to you. With Desk.com you can really get to know your customers, building on the developer’s knowledge in customer data collection.

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