“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, says it all in this brilliant quote. The face of your brand is your logo, and a successful logo can propel your business to new heights by instilling confidence in your brand. It’s then your job to deliver the message your logo creates, though that’s another topic entirely. It’s common knowledge that you must brand your business with a logo, but not often explained why. This article will guide small businesses in making considered choices when branding their company. Why do I need a logo? A logo defines your businesses, it explains at a glance who you are and what you stand for. When you’re not in the room, your logo is there to explain your brand to would-be customers. Forty per cent of people have better visual image memories in comparison to what they hear or read. By associating a logo with your business, you are tuning into the most memorable part of your customers’ minds and reinforcing the name of your brand every time they see it. Not only does a professional business logo design make your company instantly more memorable, but it also defines you as reputable and trustworthy, as well. Would you have confidence in a brand that seems to have no visual identity? What colour should my logo be? Colours play a huge impact on the success of your logo and can evoke different emotions. A study shows that up to 90 per cent of instant judgements of products were based on colour alone. With this in mind, it’s only natural that your logo will be judged on its colour also. The colour of your logo should represent the personality of your brand and mirror how your key demographics view your business. Colours may differ depending on whether you are marketing your products towards men or women. It’s been proven that men prefer shades of colours (which have black added to them), whereas women are more receptive to tints (which are colours with white added). Red is passionate, high energy and demands a call to action, with 38 per cent of Forbes’ most valuable brands of 2015 using red in their logo, including Coca-Cola coming in at number four. Blue indicates stability and trust, and is used is the top three social media companies. It is common in mobile phone and bank logos, such as VISA and American Express. Yellow expresses happiness and intellect; it acts as a memory stimulant and can be seen in Ikea and McDonald’s logos, both featured high up on Forbes’ 2015 most valuable brand list. Green is associated with nature and compassion and connotes a plentiful emotion. It makes the viewer feel safe and can be seen featured on Animal Planet and BP. Purple is the colour that evokes luxury and elegance. It’s not as common as other colours in branding, but can be seen in food companies such as Cadbury. What should my logo look like? A well-designed logo should last your business a lifetime, and consulting with a professional to guide you with your corporate logo design will ensure common mistakes aren’t made. Your logo is a representation of your brand, and if you have an amateurish design, that’s how your business will appear. Don’t make your logo over complex, as this will be lost when scaling your image down when printing on various platforms. Look to big brands for inspiration, such as Adidas or Chanel. Design for your customers, not your own personal tastes. This can be tricky when starting up your business, as removing yourself from the process can difficult. Consider your demographics and what they would like to see: Are they serious or fun? Modern or traditional? Consider your image carefully; can it be misconstrued as something other than what it should be? The London 2012 Summer Olympics logo came under scrutiny for resembling an X-rated image. This just goes to show that even multinational brands with huge budgets must consider their design with great care. When starting your business, you want to communicate your brand effectively. By following these tips, you should be able to create a distinguishable logo that speaks to your customers accurately, even when you’re not in the room.    – source: startupnation.com

You already route your network through a secure colocation data centre. You’ve installed the latest antivirus software on your computers, and you’ve purchased your internet service from a reliable provider. However, even though you’ve laid the groundwork for a secure business network, it still faces hacker and virus threats because of employee error. Your employees don’t mean to endanger your company. They probably have the same web-surfing habits at work that they do at home. They visit the same kinds of websites and click on the same alluring links. However, their habits have put other employees’ and customers’ sensitive information at risk. That security risk could disrupt your business’s finances and productivity as well. To mitigate security risks, give your employees the following rules. 1. Create unbreakable passwords. The unbreakable password has many complicated characters and changes constantly. As your employees create passwords for their work computers, work email accounts, employee portals, and more, instruct them to use passwords that meet the following criteria: They must contain both upper- and lower-case letters. The more variables hackers have to guess, the less likely they will crack the password. Upper- and lower-case letters alone make hackers guess more than 52 variables for each digit. They must contain numbers. Numbers add 10 more variables to each digit. They much contain symbols. The QWERTY keyboard contains over 30 symbols, adding that many more variables to your employees’ passwords. They must have over eight characters. When your employees create their passwords with these guidelines, hackers have to guess between 90 different variables for at least 8 digits, leading to more than 750 variables overall with millions and millions of different character combinations. Only a dedicated hacker could crack even one of those passwords. Additionally, make your employees change their passwords at least once a month. The change mitigates the risk of a hacker or computer program invading your network even if it does figure out one password. 2. Back up all work on a secure server, not just a personal computer. A virus may only infect one computer at a time. When that happens, the virus could destroy data on that single computer. The loss of even a small portion of your company’s data could ruin overall productivity, so have all your employees save their work on a secure server, not just their computer’s hard drive. 3. Don’t install programs without permission. Employees might not know how to spot disreputable downloads. Tell them that they may not download any programs or files without permission from their supervisors. And supervisors should have a list of acceptable downloads. Not only do downloads represent a security risk, but they could clog your business’s bandwidth and reduce productivity. As an additional security measure, install administrative passwords on every computer so that employees can’t download anything or change the computer’s network settings without help from IT or a supervisor. 4. Don’t disable antivirus, spam, or other filters. Employees must leave these filters and programs running at all times, even when they restrict them from playing a video or audio clip. These filters may also restrict them from visiting their favourite websites. But no matter what, the filters must remain. Again, place an administrative password on these filters and programs if you think your employees might disable them despite your rules. 5. Don’t follow suspicious links in emails, even if they know the sender. Most employees should recognize when they receive a spam email. They’ll know not to click any links, and they’ll throw the email away. However, some employees don’t have the experience to recognize spam. Tell them that their emails must meet the following requirements before they follow the attached links: They must come from people they know and have received an email from before. They must align with an email subject that person would send them. They must not have any odd spellings, characters, or pictures. They must pass your company’s antivirus test. They must be expected. If the employee did not expect an email from the sender, they should contact that person for confirmation. Some email providers find and sort spam automatically. Others even scan attachments before allowing users to download them. However, even if your company’s email doesn’t have these features, you can still use antivirus software to do the same thing. 6. Don’t use the office internet for personal purposes except on breaks, and only visit reputable news and social media sites. Employees shouldn’t spend much, if any, time surfing the web at work anyway. You pay them to create products and do tasks. However, employees have the freedom to browse social media, news, and informational websites on their breaks, and they may accidentally follow links that lead to viruses and spam. Train employees on how to recognize these dangerous links, and give them a list of safe websites they may freely visit on their breaks. 7. Don’t use mobile devices on the company’s network. Mobile devices usually have fewer security features than computers. Tell your employees to use data, or set up a guest network that doesn’t intersect with your primary one. After you implement these rules, instruct employees to report any suspicious internet activity. For more security tips specific to your business, contact your colocation facility or network provider.  – source: IsoFusion.com

The Point of Sale (POS) refers to the area of a store where customers can pay for their purchases. The term is normally used to describe systems that record financial transactions. This could be an electric cash register or an integrated computer system which records the data that comprises a business transaction for the sale of goods or services. A POS System is the hardware and software used to record the financial transactions of a retail store. It is the best tool for a store owner to manage and assess her business. While the POS system can be as simple as free software that runs on any PC or an online based system like Quickbooks or Square to a fully integrated system with mobile POS capabilities like used in Apple stores, the key is the data that the POS system generates for you to run a profitable business. Here are some of the key features you should look for in a quality POS system. Sales Data Your POS system must have the ability to generate robust reporting for you on your sales results. It should do daily, hourly and real-time reporting. It should allow you to look at year over year and day parts. It should forecast for you based on sales trends. Inventory Management In retail, cash is king. And the biggest drain on your cash is inventory. A properly managed inventory system is paramount. A quality POS will calculate your inventory turnover, GMROI, sell-through rates, and fill-in orders. Your POS system should alert you when you need to reorder and flag inventory that is “dead” in your store and not moving. It should track markdowns and shrinkage as well. Customer Relationship and Experience Knowing who your customer is and what they like and do not like can save you headaches when you’re selecting a POS system. Storing customer data and purchase history helps to personalize the experience with the customer and serves as a huge plus for customer retention. When you plan for advertising, this data allows you to select the exact customers who would be interested in your sale. For instance, in a shoe store, it’s a waste of money to send a sale flyer for 50 per cent off of oversize (14-16) shoes to a customer who wears a size 6. The kind of data provided by POS systems can help avoid those kinds of mistakes. Employee Management Probably the one component that is forgotten when looking for a POS system is employee management. Do you have the right staffing levels for your sales? What should the schedule be for next week based on your sales forecast? It should track employee hours and sales performance as well. For sales performance, look at the metrics of each employee. Key selling statistics like % of sales in accessories, # of items per ticket and sales dollars per hour help you track the productivity of your employees. Consider this, you have four employees all working the same hours, but which one is making you the most money? This data can tell you that. It will also help you reward key selling skills behaviour and we all know that what gets rewarded gets repeated. Loyalty Programs Customers are choosing retailers who provide an incentive to be loyal to the store over stores who do not have a loyalty program. Your POS system must be able to track this for you instead of using old-fashioned punch cards. Whether or not you will require your customers to carry a physical card is up to you, but have some way to track customer loyalty incentives. Many studies prove that a customer will spend more money with a retailer who has a loyalty program. Gift Cards The gift card is a staple in retail today. Your POS system must be able to manage and track these cards well. Each year, the sale of gift cards continues to rise during the Christmas season. And the truth is, many people will tell their families they prefer a gift card versus an actual present. It’s more convenient for the giver and ensures the receiver gets a gift he or she truly desires. There are federal laws and regulations regarding gift cards, so make sure you choose a POS system that can track and keep you compliant with these laws. Reporting The system’s ability to be able to generate custom reports for you is in a category by itself. Every system will have a set of predefined reports you can run, but since your retail store is unique, make sure you select one that has the ability for you to tailor your analysis. Look for a POS that will send you the reports weekly without you having to run them. Alerts are another great feature. Some POS systems will allow you to set alerts when certain things happen in the store—a large sale or large return or you hit the sales goal for the day. It gives you both the chance to celebrate with your employees and hold them accountable at the same time.  – source: https://www.thebalancesmb.com

Your website is the public face of your business, and it dramatically affects your credibility. A well-designed, informative website will leave a favourable (or at least a neutral) impression, but a poorly executed website drives customers away. If your website appears amateurish, outdated, and generally seems like an afterthought, people will make similar assumptions about your business. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a brilliant web designer, or even know HTML, to create a website that serves your business well. Platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix are intuitive and provide small business owners with clean, modern templates and a range of useful built-in features. However, even the best website creation program alone cannot guarantee an excellent business website. As a designer, you need to know the basics of building a good website and the common mistakes to avoid. Below, professional website creators offer their tips for creating an irresistible website. 1. Overcomplicating matters and missing the point Your website is not the place to go overboard trying to impress potential customers with advanced web design techniques, a wacky sense of humour or visionary thinking. This approach may seem central to your brand messaging, but it can potentially backfire. Your website is there to communicate the essential facts about your business.  A customer should understand, after visiting your website, how your product or service will benefit them. Write concisely and make sure visitors can easily find what they’re looking for. Innovation might be important to your business, but you can often communicate that best by showcasing examples of your work in a clearly labelled, easy-to-navigate portfolio. 2. No clear direction forward for customers The purpose of a business website is to drive more customers to your products and services. If you offer products for sale, link to your web store and/or provide a directory of retailers. If you provide a service, offer a link to request a quote or schedule a consultation – clearly direct customers what they should do as the next step. Also, be sure to provide a way customers can easily reach you. An unexplained Contact Us form is not self-explanatory or particularly inviting. Make sure the customer knows what information to include in their message and when they should expect to hear back from you, or they may assume it goes directly to an unmonitored mailbox. 3. Lack of visual identity Some of the worst small business websites appear frozen in time – decades ago. You know these websites: They feature a truly disorienting arrangement of fonts and images. Website builders, such as those mentioned above, can smooth out the most glaring design flaws and give your website a modern look and feel. However, there’s still the potential that your website may appear “generic.” While that may not immediately turn customers off, it does mean your customers will have a harder time distinguishing you from the competition. A well-designed logo can make your business more memorable. If your product is visually appealing, display an image of it prominently, especially if you sell it directly from your website. That alone may be enough to drive purchases. Consider outsourcing design or photography if you don’t have the in-house staff. The investment will pay off. 4. Frozen in time You may offer a great product or service, but if the copyright date listed on the bottom of your website is the only sign that it’s up-to-date, people will wonder if you’re actually still in business. Maintain an active social media presence, even if it’s not central to your marketing strategy. It helps drive traffic to your website and provides additional means for customers to contact you. Further, regularly post content and engage with customers on multiple social media channels. Provide links on your website to your social media profiles or embed feeds on your website (but make sure it’s not cluttered). Finally, if it’s relevant, consider maintaining a company blog, partly as a means of regularly updating your customers about your company, products, or services, but only do this if you have the time to update the blog weekly.  – source: Business News Daily

Security is imperative for any business; after all, how can you be profitable if you can’t protect your assets? Luckily, video surveillance systems are more intelligent and effective than ever. The best cameras now offer computer-like functions and features, like motion sensors and automatic mobile notifications. Some even let you automatically contact law enforcement instantly if need be. Technological development has also lead to more efficient ways of managing recording and storage, as well. Now small business owners have access to immensely powerful surveillance systems at relatively affordable prices. When it comes to buying and implementing a new system, most vendors allow for a large degree of customizability, meaning you can tailor a system to your business’s specific needs. Whether you need a widespread system that can cover multiple locations or just a few cameras to watch your storefront, there’s a solution for everyone. Not sure where to start? Here’s our 2018 video surveillance buyer’s guide to help break down the component parts of video surveillance systems. Benefits of a Surveillance System Before diving into the details, it’s important to note the many benefits offered by a video surveillance system. Not only can surveillance cameras deter criminals and help law enforcement quickly catch any would-be thieves, but these systems can also improve the accountability of your employees, help you monitor productivity and sometimes even reduce your insurance premiums. While the up-front costs of installing a video surveillance system can seem a little steep, the long-term payoff and the peace of mind may well be worth the expense. IP Cameras vs. Analog Cameras There are two primary types of cameras that can be wired into a video surveillance system: internet protocol (IP) cameras and the traditional analogue cameras. IP cameras are the more modern iteration of analogue cameras, and while the individual cameras tend to be a little more expensive, they offer a number of features that analogue cameras do not. Here’s a look at the differences between the two types of camera. Resolution IP cameras are far more powerful than analogue cameras, usually shooting footage of between 1 megapixel and 5 megapixels. That makes for incredibly clear image quality, especially compared to the more grainy analogue footage, which runs around one-half of a megapixel. IP cameras generally have a larger field of vision than analogue cameras. Video analytics IP cameras also have additional features that analogue cameras don’t offer, such as video analytics, which allow for mobile notifications and automatic recording if there is movement within the camera’s field of vision. This is particularly useful for times when your business is closed and you want to know if someone is moving around inside the premises. You can configure the system to flag events like this and send notifications directly to your smartphone, along with recorded footage of the event. Some systems also offer a direct, one-touch connection to local law enforcement. Network Video Recorders In addition, IP cameras are compatible with network video recorders (NVRs), which offer several other benefits over the older digital video recorders (DVRs) that this guide will cover. In short, NVR records higher-quality video and allows for systems to be scaled up much more easily than can be done with DVR. For more information on video recorders, see the section below. PoE Switches IP cameras can also be connected to what is known as a “power over Ethernet” (PoE) switch, which both sends data from the camera and provides power to it. Analogue cameras, on the other hand, require a switch to run the signal from the camera as well as a separate power source, meaning a more complex setup and more wires. PoE switches are also generally regarded as a more secure way to transmit data. Comparable System Cost While IP cameras are generally more expensive than their analogue counterparts, the total cost of a full IP system tends to be slightly lower than that of a comparable analogue system. Since IP cameras have a wider field of vision, as well, an IP system can often work with fewer cameras than an analogue system. source: Business News Daily

Computer Software is traditionally divided into two categories: packaged or custom. Custom-made software is fully adapted to meet the needs of the buyer, in contrast to packaged software which is acquired off the shelf and has the same features for everyone. Through the years, companies have learned how packaged software products have fallen short when it comes to meeting diverse buyer needs. This has prompted greater demand for custom software products designed to meet the specific needs of each organization. With these accommodations, exclusiveness in the solutions of business issues is guaranteed. Here are five benefits you can reap from opting to create custom software solutions rather than choosing off-the-shelf. Personalization When it comes to business operations and software development, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. Although there is a lot of high-quality ready-made software available, there’s a pretty slim probability that it will fit seamlessly into your organization. Modifying some built-in features of your packaged software might meet a small need but it can’t compare to a software solution that has been built from scratch specifically for your business. Custom software development ensures that your software will be able to handle all your daily processes. Personalized software can be as complex or intuitive as you like, and this makes it the ideal choice for businesses of all sizes. When you have software that is designed to do exactly what you want it to do, it helps make your day easier. Scalability The growth of your business brings new requirements. Off-the-shelf software that seems to perfectly fit your needs today may not always scale. It won’t necessarily be able to accommodate the changes that come tomorrow as a result of your organization’s growth. On top of this, you have the trouble of training your workforce all over. When you hire a software company to design a custom solution, they can make sure it scales to support the growth of your business as and when required. Aside from building the initial solution, they can maintain the program, in the long run, making sure that it scales effectively. It’s much better when you can allow your business to grow without being limited or held back by your software. Integration For many businesses, the fulfilment of their varied requirements creates a need for multiple software programs. However, it can be quite a hassle to use and maintain several programs. Businesses in this position of need can enjoy the benefits of operating with just one custom made software program designed for the integration of multiple processes. This helps them accomplish more of what’s needed while reducing stress. During the development of custom software, the developer will be able to accommodate the expertise levels of the users. Additionally, any changes in staffing or app usage can be addressed by the creation of extra modules or updates. This way your software can be adjusted based on the direction the business is taking. Technology grows quickly and is always evolving, therefore it’s in your best interest to choose custom software because it can be effectively integrated with the needs and direction of your business. Cost Effectiveness The development of custom software may be pricier at times but it proves to be worth it in the long run. Custom built software does not require constant change or development for the accommodation of company needs in the manner that off-the-shelf software does. Custom software can be used without any significant investment for a long time. Additionally, off-the-shelf software can include additional costs with licenses, etc. The other benefits of custom software solutions such as scalability and integration make the investment in custom software worthwhile. This can help your business save a considerable amount of money on software. Support and Maintenance When dealing with off-the-shelf software solutions, your business is at the mercy of the software developer you are buying from. So in the event that they go bankrupt or decide they no longer maintain the software, your business will be in the tough position of suddenly needing to change to software that is fully supported and maintained. This sudden expense can be damaging to your business. If you take the custom route, your software is maintained for as long as you require. One of the biggest advantages you get with custom software is a reliable, efficient technical support plan. You’ll have full access to a technical support team familiar with the development process of your application, giving an efficient solution to all the problems you encounter. Custom software also offers more security with minimal chances of intrusion or compromise, due to the fact that hackers are not familiar with the system as they are with popular off-the-shelf software. Final Thoughts Custom software plays a key part in your organization’s growth and efficiency. Business operations can be complex and every organization has different needs and issues. The numerous advantages of custom software development include integration, personalization, and cost-effectiveness. It’s better to create tailor-made products than to go off-the-shelf.   -source: The Innovation Enterprise 

Most business owners rely on simple income-minus-expenditure to guess how well their business is doing, for others, it is how much money they have in their bank account and for the remaining, they simply do not care to measure progress at all. Below are three reasons why you should clearly define your business metrics and communicate these metrics clearly to your employees. It is easy for day to day activities such as running errands, placing calls to customers and supervision duties to swallow you up as the top manager of your small business, causing you to lose track of the progress of your enterprise. Recent random surveys we conducted reveal that 8 out of 10 business owners don’t know the metrics or indicators by which to measure their performance. Out of 20 employees from the 10 businesses visited, 16 employees were completely blank about the metrics of their workplace, and only 2 employees out of the 4 remaining employees knew the metrics of the business as stated by the employers. Unlike building or construction where progress is measured by the height or level of the structure, building a business or a brand and monitoring its progress can become almost a nightmare for most startups and business owners for one simple reason! You don’t have a well crafted out business metric structure. 1. Clarity Of Vision: Knowing the indicators that define your business progress helps you see the future of your business in a more lucid picture than you would from a clustered business model. Having full knowledge of the pillars that hold your business curve allows you to know where to tweak when you need to make a change in your growth pattern, just like the weatherman who measures elements of the weather and is able to tell when the next rain would fall. *Business Metrics make forecasting more effective and likely to be true 2. Track Your Growth Curve : Keeping a good record of your clearly defined business metrics allowing you to plot your metrics along a time-value graph to map out the performance of your business within a given period. This informative and factual growth curves serves as basis for you pop a champagne at the end of a period, or call for an emergency strategic meeting. *Business Metrics tell you how well or otherwise you have performed so far 3. Good Customer Relationships : Your business is as important as the people who patronize your goods or services, therefore knowing in details your customer inflow details is a point that cannot be over emphasized. How much a particular customer has spent on your business since its inception may be reason for you to treat that customer differently or award special discounts to this customer where the need be, but how then do you know this if you do not keep track of customer inflow data. Also keeping customer inflow-data allows you to tell the frequency of new customer acquisition, identify loyal customers and also spot runaway customers. *Business Metrics informs you who your loyal, frequent and runaway customers are. So you see, business metrics goes beyond Money-In-The-Bank, and identifying and keeping proper business records puts you in a position to measure; for If you cannot measure, you cannot manage. Written by  Abdul-Moomin Shahabdeen