Top Tips for Starting Your Honey Business

The honey market is a consistently growing and profitable business. This product has many different uses in various industries, making it the ideal product to start a profitable business.

Necessary Equipment for Your Commercial Cleaning Business

Are you considering starting your very own commercial cleaning business? If you're a wiz at cleaning, commercial cleaning can be an extremely profitable venture. Cleaning services are always in demand, which means there’s a virtually endless supply of potential clients.

How Much Does A Breakup Cost?

When you go through a breakup, you rarely think about the financial cost. Mostly, you’re focused on the emotional weight - no matter who decides to end the relationship, a long term relationship ending  takes its toll on your emotions. You might feel fragile, upset, tired and lost; all these emotions are normal when you lose a connection to a person you love.

But there’s another aspect of breakups that people forget to consider: the financial cost of a breakup. If you live with your partner or spouse, breaking up can cost you a lot of money - and in this post, you’ll find out how to save money when you’re breaking up, and what kind of costs you should expect during a breakup.

Divorce or legal separation: the main costs

When you get divorced or go through a common law separation, the financial cost will depend on your agreement as a couple. If you signed a prenuptial agreement before marriage, your assets will be protected - allowing you to separate easily with no legal argument, financially speaking. 

However, there are still costs involved, even if you don’t lose any of your assets in a divorce or separation. Moving out of a shared home, for example, can be extremely expensive, especially if you are looking for short-notice removals and another place to live. In addition, the long term cost of living alone versus living with another person can be huge; you need to factor this in when you are going through a breakup. 

How to save money when you go through a breakup…

Now you are aware of some of the key costs of going through a breakup, here are a few tips for reducing them!

1. Be a team - even in the wake of a breakup.

Although being a team can be difficult if there’s bad blood, working together will save you both money. If you club together to organize moving trucks, apartment cleaning post-tenancy and other key costs, you will both be better off as you emerge from the relationship and into your single lives again.

1. Make a long term financial plan.

When you are entering into a new phase in your life, it is important to create a financial plan that helps you to look forward, not backwards. Not only will planning out your living and social costs help you in the here and now, but it will help you to feel in control, structured and optimistic about the future.

1. Ask friends for help.

Your friends are there for you to lean on in hard times. It can be difficult to ask for help, particularly if you pride yourself on being an independent person who does things on their own. However, by asking friends for help with moving your belongings out of your home, and perhaps even asking to crash on somebody’s couch for a few weeks while you get settled, can save you bags of money - as well as providing you with the emotional support you need during this difficult time.

Final thoughts…

If you are going through a breakup and struggling with the financial burdens it can bring, make sure you use this guide to help you alleviate some costs and cope emotionally!

How To Meet Your Customer Needs on Time

You want to meet your customer's needs on time, but sometimes it feels like you are always behind. This can be frustrating when you know your customers need what you have. Sometimes you may not change the timeline for a project, but there are a few things that will help make sure your business runs more smoothly so that when your customer wants it done by then, you're already halfway.

Develop and Test Your Prototypes

You need to make sure your customers are getting the right product. You can't just assume that because you think it's perfect, people will too. Instead, make a prototype like the  MIS Electronics PCB assembly service or test your ideas on some of your existing clients before releasing the final version. This way, you'll be able to see what works and what doesn't work for your customers. Make adjustments to your product or service based on customers' reactions, and then test it out again before releasing the final version. This way, you will get your customers what they need, which means more sales for you in the long run.

Research the Best Delivery Technique

Delivering a product on time is essential to meeting your customer needs.  However, many factors affect the delivery of a product, and it's important to research which technique will work best for you while ensuring your brand is relevant before beginning production.

You can build trust with your customers by ensuring that their needs are met on time. If you overprice yourself or the product you're selling, chances are there's a competitor who will be able to offer it at a lower cost. So, instead, please choose an appropriate price point and stick to it. So, if you're looking to meet your customer needs on time, ensure that all requests are met without overpricing yourself or the product you're selling.

Target a Specific Market

One of the most important aspects to consider when marketing your product is to attract more qualified leads to your business.  In addition, you can establish more trust and loyalty with customers by catering directly to a particular audience than if you had gone for less focused customers.  

For example, some companies might try to appeal to everyone and anyone, which can dilute your marketing message.  On the other hand, if a company has an effective targeted campaign, you will deliver better customer service and meet specific needs more efficiently than those companies who try for such broad appeal.

Review Feedback and Comments From Customers

Acknowledge customer feedback and comments, good or bad. Customers are the lifeblood of any business. Without your customers, you have no one to sell your product or service to. Be sure that anything said about your company goes through the appropriate channels to be documented for future reference. Also, consider what customers want in terms of service as it help show you care. You'll offer better service when you know what customers want from your company, and then deliver it on time.

Conclusion

There is no more straightforward way to meet your customers' needs on time than those discussed here. Keep these things in mind so you can better serve the clientele and improve overall company performance. Remember that there is no single best way, but if it feels right, then do it.

Defend Your Business Against Password Spraying Attacks

Password spraying is a highly prevalent form of brute-force cyberattack used to gain unauthorized access to computer systems. In this kind of an attack the hacker attempts to guess a user’s password using a list of common passwords like “123456” or “password.” Hackers try to avoid detection by using automated processes that occur slowly over time. Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Report found that 80% of all hacking-related breaches involved brute-force methods like password spraying. IT support Joplin can help businesses in Joplin secure their sensitive data against password spraying and brute force attacks.

Passwords are vulnerable

Even with the highest ever increase in ransomware attacks in recent times, unsafe password behavior remains rampant. We just can't seem to get rid of bad habits like using easy to remember (and easy to guess) passwords or reusing the same password for multiple accounts. Many resort to password managers, but finding a reliable one remains challenging (without resorting to browser in-built password managers that can again be quite easily compromised). 

To add to the list of growing concerns, sophisticated technologies now exist that can help hackers crack even well-maintained passwords. 

The best way forward for organizations seems to be to eliminate passwords altogether, thereby effectively removing the risk of credential-based attacks such as password stuffing. 

Compromised Credentials and Privileged Accounts Are Dangerous to Your Environment

Compromised credentials pose grave dangers for any business environment. These can allow hackers to have legitimate access to your entire network. This leaves the hackers free to tweak or modify the rights and permissions to all the systems, data, and resources the compromised account can access.

When this compromise happens on a privileged account, the fallout can be even worse. These accounts always have high levels of access including administrative access. With this kind of access, hackers can be free to have network-wide access and also create backdoors and high-level accounts that are difficult to detect and take much longer to be identified. The problem is that the longer these backdoors exist, the more damaging it proves for the business. This can take a huge toll on both reputation and cost for the business. If you want to secure the constant flow of data with full control, please refer to private cloud solutions.

What Is a Password Spraying Attack?

Although it is a type of brute force attack, the password spraying attack is different from typical brute force attacks. In the latter, the hacker targets a single account with an exponential number of passwords. In contrast, the password spraying attack targets multiple accounts with the same password. If the hacker manages to pick out one or multiple user accounts configured with known, breached, or default passwords - those accounts are compromised. Password spray attacks are only successful because so many users fail to adhere to password best practices. With a large enough bank of usernames and sets of common passwords, hackers are bound to compromise some accounts.

In order to discourage brute force attacks, many businesses now utilize Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS) and account lockout policies. This enables administrators to set the number of failed login attempts before the account gets automatically locked out for a set duration. Password spraying attacks work around this limitation by spreading the attack out over multiple accounts.

Password spraying attacks may appear like throwing stuff on the wall to see what sticks, but there are ways in which hackers can further streamline this kind of attacks. Most often, hackers target an account with single sign-on (SSO) authentication. If they manage to guess the credentials for that account, they can effectively gain access to multiple systems or applications. Other common targets include users that make use of cloud services and applications using federated authentication. As federated authentication can often mask malicious traffic, this enables hackers to move laterally. 

Once an account is compromised, companies stand to face temporary or permanent loss of sensitive information. Depending on the scale of the success of the attack, it could also result in significant operational disruptions, productivity and revenue losses and reputational damage.

How to Prevent Password Spraying Attacks?

Enforce Account Lockout Regulations that Limit Bad Password Attempts 

Account lockout policies are an effective prevention method against attackers trying out an infinite number of passwords. Enforce a set number of failed login attempts before access gets locked out automatically. While password spraying attacks can still manage to be effective against account lockouts, it will still prevent brute force attacks in general. 

Effective Password Policies for Better Security

Incorporate safe password practices as part of the security culture in your organization. The best way to do this is through effective password policies that help you control the characteristics of passwords used in the office environment. Good password policies allow administrators to define the length, complexity, and content of passwords that can be used in the corporate network. It is recommended for businesses to have advanced password protection policies such as breached password protection. Unfortunately, Microsoft's Active Directory Domain Services don’t allow for much beyond creating basic password policies. Businesses must try to use effective third-party solutions that can prevent the use of breached or weak passwords. Managed IT Services Washington can help your business with the right third-party solution for secure password management.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Strong password policies that are regularly enforced along with breached password protection do help in securing passwords. But to go one step further up, companies need to implement multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication is another step of identity verification layered with username and password. It combines something you know (your password) with something you have (a hardware authentication device). This makes it much more difficult for hackers to compromise credentials without having access to the physical devices. Even if they manage to get access to the compromised passwords, the second factor of the authentication security layer will prevent them from accessing your network. 

Modern and Robust Password Protection

For effective protection of passwords, companies need to implement modern password protection in their Active Directory environment. Third-party tools have more or less become a necessity here to protect against breached passwords and further secure Active Directory password policies. With enhanced cybersecurity posture thanks to more robust password protection, organizations can effectively prevent password spraying attacks from happening in the first place.

About James:

James Richards is a serial jelly bean eater with over 30 years of experience in the Information Technology industry. Growing up around the first generation of home computers, he always had a strong interest in technology and is continually grateful to be in a profession that he honestly enjoys. James is a problem solver who’s vision to provide quality is the foundation of Stronghold Data. His goal is to deliver solutions for customers that truly impress them with the outcome. His authenticity and compassion for his team and clients extends into the community with his active leadership roles. 

Questions To Ask When Building Your Cloud Strategy

Moving to the cloud is a big move for your business. Soon, you’ll have new resources and technology at your fingertips. The possibilities are endless—if you build your network correctly. As exciting as cloud migration is, the first step is to create a realistic and useful strategy to make the transition as smooth as possible. You have a lot of decisions to make about your new cloud network, but let’s start with the basics. Here are a few of the initial questions to ask when building your cloud strategy.

What Changes? What Stays the Same?

The truth is that you’re probably not going to bring everything to the cloud. Different applications, storage tools, and procedures might stay exactly the same. Take time to examine the different parts of your infrastructure to determine what you can change and what needs to stay the same. Some applications and procedures can benefit from an upgrade, while others are fine the way they are. Alternatively, you might have parts of your infrastructure that need to span both your current system and your new cloud service. Identifying all of these details will help you prepare and preserve processes as needed so that you don’t lose anything when you move to the cloud.

Are You Going Public, Private, or Hybrid?

Cloud services come in public, private, and hybrid environments. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these options, so it’s important to evaluate each one to see what would work best for your business. Make sure you learn the differences between the public and private cloud before making your decision. Keep in mind that you might benefit from both types of environments. In that case, a hybrid environment that mixes the two services might be best for you. No matter what kind of cloud you adapt, you’ll have unique security and management issues to attend to. Learning your way around your specific environment will help you make the most of every service your cloud provides.

How Will You Manage Your Cloud?

A good cloud strategy does more than just help you through the migration progress. Once your new system is in place and you’ve met your short-term goals, how do you find continued success in the cloud? You need to ensure that your cloud system stays efficient, cost-effective, and flexible as technology evolves and your business grows. To do this, you need a strong and experienced management team to help you continue making the most of your cloud network.

One of the most important questions to ask when building your cloud strategy is whether you want an in-house or outsourced management team. An in-house management team is closer to you and always available, but it can be costly to keep and continuously train cloud experts on your team. That’s why many companies opt for a managed services provider who knows their cloud system in and out. No matter what you choose, make sure a reliable, long-term management plan is part of your cloud strategy.

5 Ways To Turn Your Side Hustle Into a Full-Time Business

Turning your side hustle into a full-time business is no task for the weak: it’s going to require hard work, determination, and the ability to get back up when you fall. If you’re ready to take your career to the next level, follow this guide for five ways to turn your side hustle into a full-time business.

How Cloud Computing Can Help Businesses Save Money

Let's look at some numbers first. Resend data indicates that in 2020, the combined end-user spending on cloud services totaled $270 billion. In 2021, this is expected to increase by 23.1 percent to a staggering $332.3 billion. Moving forward by just a year, projections indicate that this figure will rise to $397.5 billion. When it comes to total market size, in 2020, the total worth of the cloud market was $371.4 billion. With a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.5 percent, it’s projected that the market will amount to $832.1 billion by 2025. If we look at workloads, cloud data centers are expected to process 94 percent of all workloads in 2021 — with SaaS processes accounting for 75 percent of the total workload. For more information on managing SaaS workloads, please refer Cloud Direct Connect. 

If it wasn't clear already, cloud computing is here to stay and the best thing to do for businesses currently is to look at where they can drive competitive advantage based on cloud technology. One of the best benefits of cloud technology comes from the fact that they can save businesses a boat load of money when it comes to cost savings. In this article, we will look at the various different ways in which cloud technology enables businesses to save money.

What is Cloud Computing?

To put it very simply, cloud computing refers to the delivery of different services through the Internet. The services can include anything from tools and applications like data storage, servers, databases, networking, and software. Cloud storage often acts as a full proof back up of sensitive data thanks to its ability for remote storage. With software and hardware both making extensive use of the cloud, all that enterprises need now is stable network connectivity as nearly the entirety of the operational infrastructure can be accessed via the cloud. This has proved a great boom for businesses especially with remote work taking center stage in the wake of the pandemic. Cloud technology has enabled businesses to connect employees and clients the world over with service delivery going as planned thanks to cloud connectivity. It is also an increasingly popular option for businesses due to significant cost savings, improved productivity, speed, efficiency, performance, and security.

8 Effective Ways Cloud Computing Saves Your Business Money

Less Hardware

Operational environments that have embraced the Cloud can effectively run on much lower hardware deployments and associated costs. Companies no longer need to invest in deploying and maintaining server rooms and large-scale desktop deployments to run their networks. This also enables them to save on Office space requirements that can also be quite expensive. With the cloud, hardware-related expenses are extensively minimized, if not eliminated. No longer need to worry about running or maintaining expensive equipment as the minimal maintenance can be handed over to a small team of dedicated internal staff or managed service providers. In case something goes wrong, it is the responsibility of the vendors to take care of any equipment replacement or repair. Needless to say, this also minimizes the cost of running the entire gamut of hardware infrastructure yourself.

Save on Software

Businesses can also save on iterative investments in software as all departments can access all the relevant software programs and databases via the cloud. This cuts down on the necessity to have multiple copies of costly software ‘hard copies’ on hand and your cloud provider takes care of upgrades and patches automatically. In case you run into problems or have doubts, most cloud services offer 24/7 support, leading to less downtimes. 

Vendors have your IT human resources cover

Having a good team of IT professionals on board can be expensive to maintain in the long term. Unfortunately, you do need best in class IT services in order to keep your operations and services running smoothly. In the current environment of severe talent crunch, managed service providers make it easy for businesses to access some of the best engineers and consultants in the IT industry on demand and at predictable rates. 

Pay for what you need

Maintaining your own infrastructure can often run up redundant costs that can be hard to spot and get rid of. With cloud infrastructure, businesses can simply pay for what they actually use including everything from storage, email boxes, virtual server hours to tools and applications. This can be particularly helpful for emerging businesses as they can keep costs low by eliminating waste, redundancies and unused resources. This also enables them to keep a bird's eye view on all their hardware and software investments, postpone unnecessary purchases and even test out new solutions or programs as they emerge without fully committing to them. Cloud cost management can help you significantly cut down on infrastructure costs.

Lower Energy Costs 

Energy costs associated with running internal servers can be prohibitively expensive. Using hosted solutions often hopes companies minimize their energy footprint as the host bears the costs related to server management. This enables savings through shared services or economies of scale.

Lower initial capital investment

One of the most important Advantages of Cloud Computing is its ability to nearly eradicate capital costs traditionally associated with running a business. Upfront investments are eliminated as the capital investment traditionally reserved for servers, power, software and more is borne out by the cloud provider. This enables companies to acquire resources and scale on-demand quickly and easily. Depending on changing business requirements, you can always moderate your infrastructure needs as required and keep costs predictable. 

Higher productivity

Apart from saving on costs, cloud computing also helps businesses enhance productivity. Cloud storage on a private cloud, for instance, can help companies customize data distribution. It enhances collaboration among remote workers, vendors and customers. Workflows become more manageable thanks to the wide assortment of Cloud tools that makes work and collaboration easier. Cloud deployment through Cloud migration solution takes mere hours compared to on premise installations that may take months. 

Much Lower Maintenance and Updating Services

All requirements for maintenance are taken care of by the cloud service providers. This enables businesses to accrue savings through the fixed rate costs. All software updates and patches are also applied automatically by the service providers. 

About Ben Ferguson: 
Ben Ferguson is the Vice President and Senior Network Architect for Shamrock Consulting Group, an industry leader in digital transformation solutions. Since his departure from Biochemical research in 2004, Ben has built core competencies around Cloud Direct Connects and Cloud migration solutions, SD WAN providers, enterprise wide area network architecture, high density data center deployments, cybersecurity and VOIP telephony. Ben has designed hundreds of complex networks for some of the largest companies in the world and he's helped Shamrock become a top partner of the 3 largest public cloud platforms for AWS, Azure and GCP consulting. Stay connected at LinkedIn.

Understanding Payment Gateway

What is a payment gateway?

А payment gateway is a technology commonly offered as a third-party service that captures and transfers payment data from the customer to the merchant/ business. Payment gateways in some ways keep the world running as it enables online payments for consumers and businesses. As the world recovers from the pandemic, payment gateways have made it possible for people to access essential services and buy things online even as they maintained complete physical distancing. If your business has an online presence, it is necessary for you to understand the essentials of online payment transactions so you can choose a reliable payment gateway for your clients and consumers. You could also reach out to your managed service provider for help and guidance on payment gateway integrations. Always remember that the most reliable payment gateways make it their business to deliver secure service, superior support, and competitive transaction processing fees. IT Support Vancouver can help you find the right payment gateway solution that fits your individual business needs. 

How does a payment gateway work?

Irrespective of whether you use physical or virtual payment gateways, the transaction flow remains more or less consistent. Mobile and online payments, however, often utilize digital capture files to process credit card information (instead of output from a credit card reader) for processing transactions through payment gateway services:

Step 1 - The customer makes a purchase using a credit card payment through the merchant’s credit card reader or e-commerce site

Step 2 - The online payment gateway gathers the transaction information and sends it to the relevant bank for processing (the merchant bank)

Step 3 - The payment gateway ascertains which credit card network (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express) is being used in the customer’s card

Step 4 - The payment gateway then sends the transaction information securely to the correct payment switch

Step 5 - The payment switch then requests the bank associated with the customer’s credit card (the issuing bank). It then sends the transaction information onto the accurate credit card network.

Step 6 - The card issuing bank checks for the authenticity of the transaction using fraud detection procedures. The bank also needs to confirm if the buyer actually has enough credit to validate this particular transaction.

Step 7 - The issuing bank approves (or rejects) the transaction. This information is then sent back through the credit card network to the merchant bank and finally to the payment gateway.

In its essence, the payment gateway acts as a conduit for the transaction to pass through several different channels in order to get processed. For an even deeper understanding of the process, please refer Managed IT Services Vancouver. 

If the payment is authorized, it means that the bank has appropriated the required funds to process the transaction at the point of sale. At this point in time, the seller, i.e. the merchant hasn’t received the payment yet. For the buyer, the transaction appears as “pending” on their credit card statement. Sometime later, when the merchant reconciles payments, it manually sends a batch capture, or “clearing” file, for all the pending credit card transactions. This is the point at which the pending transactions are finally committed, i.e. the merchant becomes eligible for the funds previously held in account by the bank. Shortly after, the funds are sent to the merchant’s bank. The funds become available to the merchant once the transaction is posted in the merchant account. The whole process is fairly straightforward unless there are delays involved due to technical issues either at the merchant end or at the bank end.

Types of payment gateway

Hosted payment gateways

Hosted payment gateways can be quickly recognized by the fact that they direct the buyer away from your website’s checkout page. This means that when a buyer clicks on the payment gateway link, they are then redirected to the Payment Gateway Provider or Payment Service Provider (PSP) page. The buyer is then required to fill out individual payment details. The transaction is conducted on the PSP page and once it's completed, the buyer is redirected back to the merchant website for the completion of the checkout process. This is what happens when you choose to pay through popular hosted payment gateway such as PayPal.

Self-hosted payment gateways

Self-hosted payment gateways typically collect payment details from the buyer, but this transaction happens within the merchant’s website. Once the details are filled in, the collected data is sent to the payment gateway’s URL. Some self-hosted payment gateways may require users to provide the payment data in a specific format. Others may need to use a hash key or secret key. Popular examples of this kind of gateway include Shopify Payments that is made available through Stripe.

API hosted payment gateways

API hosted payment gateways are fairly straightforward. The buyer enters his credit or debit card information directly on the merchant’s checkout page. The transaction is then processed using an API (Application Programming Interface) or HTTPS queries.

Which option is right for your business?

Payment gateways tend to confuse and rattle many merchants. With the right PCI-compliant level 1 full-service payment solutions provider, your payments will be more secure and convenient than ever before. Once you start using payment gateways, you start to realize just how many advantages you can accrue for your business. Most payment service providers offer a flexible, highly convenient payment platform that includes payment gateway, acquiring, popular Alternative Payment Methods, shopping cart integration and fraud detection services, all rolled into a neat package. 

Conclusion

If you have been trying to decide whether or not to implement a payment gateway solution into your business, consider reaching out to your managed service provider for guidance and the best payment gateway services. MSPs are highly experienced in dealing with payment gateway solutions, can guide you on which solution works best for your particular business needs, and most importantly, they have the talent, expertise and tools required to safeguard highly valuable financial transactions for your business. IT Consulting Vancouver can be a great place to start your research on Payment Gateway Integrations.

About Sam Goh:

Sam Goh is the President at ActiveCo Technology Management, a Cloud services Vancouver company. Sam comes from an operational perspective, his tenure at ActiveCo emphasizes working with customers to closely understand their business plans and to successfully incorporate the technology component to those plans. Under his leadership, ActiveCo has developed expertise which focuses on enriching the extensive customer relationships by integrating strategic and operational focus areas through consulting. When Sam and his wife Candee aren’t running ActiveCo, they enjoy road trips with their 2 children. Faith, family, friends and philanthropy lie at the heart of Sam’s personal beliefs.

Maintaining A Complete Online Presence for Your Business

Irrespective of the business or the industry vertical that you are in or the size of your business, the only way to populate your customer’s mind space is through having an extensive digital presence. The demand for multichannel digital activity has only grown more insistent over the years. Having a healthy presence over all digital platforms can help your business stand out from the competition and create better recall value in the minds of your customers. IT Support Houston can help you deploy and maintain a unified brand presence across multiple relevant digital channels.

Business World is Taken Over by Digitization

The need of the moment is for businesses to maintain targeted marketing activity across multiple platforms that ends up directing traffic to specific pages on their official website where users typically convert. Simply put, if you want to be able to influence purchasing decisions of your customers, you need to go where they are - on digital channels. Your digital presence is the backbone for delivering an effective digital marketing strategy in order to realize an incredible ROI. Digital marketing is not only affordable, but it also empowers your business to target specific audiences and get immediate feedback in ways that simply aren’t possible with traditional marketing. Therefore, expanding and enhancing your digital presence is critical to the expansion of your customer base and improving revenue generation.

24/7 Availability 

A digital presence of any business can include everything from your company website, social media accounts, listings in online business directories, search engine results, paid online ads, email newsletters, or listings of products on eBay, Facebook or your own website. The best part about having a multi-channel digital presence is that your business gets a 24/7 open storefront. This means that potential customers can find your products and services whenever they conduct searches even remotely related to your business. IT Consulting Houston guarantees uptime across your business’ various digital assets.

Huge Audience

The Internet literally acts as a hive mind for your customers across the globe. First of all, thanks to the Internet, your digital presence can attract customers from virtually anywhere in the world. This already gives you access to a much wider swathe of the consumer chunk than traditional marketing. This allows your business, no matter how small or large, to have access to new opportunities and cater to a global audience. Cloud Computing Houston can help you manage your customer base across the globe more effectively.

Gain Credibility

Recent statistics indicate that global consumers are becoming more distrustful of brands. Much of this distrust and discontent can be traced to suboptimal customer service experiences. The consequences are grave as nearly 75% of consumers are now unlikely to buy from a business they don’t trust – no matter how highly they value the product. This indicates the importance of building an unimpeachable online presence to gain the credibility your brand deserves. It's not enough to just establish trust, you need to be able to command authority in your specific niche. Communicating these qualities online requires patient building of your online presence through delivering a safe, secure and consistent online experience that encompasses branding, design and usability. When consumers browse through your catalog, they must be able to do so with complete confidence in both your business integrity and data security.

Online Customer Reviews

The digital world moves at the pace of the Flash on steroids. If you do not respond to customer queries or feedback on time, they could simply choose to move to a brand that does. Interacting with your customers and getting feedback momentarily can quite literally unveil a treasure trove of information that you might otherwise spend months gathering, and still not be as accurate. You could use this information to tweak your product or service to offer better value. You could potentially even come up with new offerings on new business strategies that you think might work better with your intended audience. The benefits of prompt customer interaction and professional monitoring of online customer reviews go far beyond building a trustworthy brand. 

Precisely Designed and Informative Website

We have already established that having updated and regularly maintained Digital presence on multiple channels makes it easier than ever to market your products. But in order to truly leverage the power of your online presence, you need to empower your customers with information that they value and are unlikely to get elsewhere. This means having a properly designed and informative website replete with high value content that enables your customers to make informed choices. 

There are many ways of achieving this. First and foremost, you should try to keep your domain and branding credentials consistent. Any inconsistencies in aligning website and email domains may lead to doubt in the minds of customers leading to hesitation in reaching out to your business. You should also try to find and work with a single reliable hosting provider that makes it simple and cost-effective to access and manage all of your digital properties. Your social media channels should also follow the same branding guidelines so customers know that they are in fact interacting with the official business channels. Most importantly, you need to be able to provide a stable and secure website connection. Slow response times or inconsistencies are likely to scare off potential consumers worried about data security. 

Need for a Managed Service Provider

This is why it's so crucial to invest in the right managed service provider who can provide you with reliable web and email hosting services, guarantee uptime across your digital assets, improve your security posture, cost efficiency and more. Most importantly, having access to the right managed service provider will enable you to access critical business and technical expertise when you need it the most. Apart from giving you the peace of mind that comes with guaranteed uptimes, the right MSP will enable you to enhance your customer experience and improve business efficiency and responsiveness overall. 

About Scott Young:Scott Young is the president of PennComp LLC, an IT Outsourcing Houston Company. Being a CPA, Six Sigma Master Blackbelt, Change Management Certified and Myers Briggs Qualified, Scott's expertise is reflected in PennComp as a leading IT company for computer services and network integration. PennComp utilizes Six Sigma methodologies and practices in their service delivery and offers state-of-the-art monitoring and management tools to their clients.