Tag: work

3 Ways for Small Business Owners To Improve Company-Wide Collaboration

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

Read more engaging articles on the Knowledge Vault today!

If you own a small business, you’re keenly aware of every employee’s role in your enterprise. What may be missing, though, are the significant gains that come from group efforts. Consider these ideas from Knowledge Vault for transforming your company culture into one where everyone works separately (or even remotely) to one that shifts from solo work to collaborative work with ease.

1. Foster a Pro-Communication Culture

It should go without saying that if you want your employees to feel comfortable sharing ideas and offering constructive critiques, you should foster an environment of open communication, non-judgmental discourse, and respect. Positivity begins with the business owners and leaders, but it’s also reinforced by your meetings, training, company policies, and feedback you give to your employees.

If your employees work in the office, do your best to create a comfortable physical environment. If your employees are remote-only or hybrid teams, ensure that they have what they need to thrive including proper office equipment and a way to communicate with everyone. This could include Slack or another popular workplace messenger app to ensure that no one gets left out of a discussion.

It’s also important that you and your team are open to hear difficult feedback from coworkers, including points like, they don’t feel heard, are not comfortable with one another, or simply don’t trust each other. You cannot address problems if you don’t know they exist, so this kind of open communication is vital, even if it is painful. Ask one another how you can gain each other’s trust, and own up to your mistakes. Never make excuses.

2. Consider Your Collaborative Platforms

The fact that life has increasingly moved online in the past decade has increased the need for high-quality virtual platforms and messaging systems. Consider the size of your entire company as well as the usual number of people in your collaborative teams to determine which platforms will suit your business.

Here are a few options that are especially suited to remote or hybrid work:

  • Zoom: you likely know and love (or hate!) this virtual meeting platform. Video calls are necessary in the age of remote work, and they can often save an employee who has to stay home with a sick child or care for an aging relative.
  • Slack: this app is essential for day-to-day communication with your office staff as well as for collaborative efforts in smaller teams. 
  • Trello: make project management easier by using a visual board to envision everyone’s duties and due dates. Everyone is able to see their personal to-do list and understand where the project is in terms of completion.
  • Workfront: collaborate in real time with this project management software that also comes with some handy automation features.

3. Keep Your Project Teams Small

LinkedIn reports that creating teams of over 15 individuals (although 10 is better) can decrease employees’ motivation to collaborate and work as a group. Too-large groups result in a few hardworking employees assigning duties to the rest of the group and picking up slack. It may also cause a phenomenon where some employees render themselves invisible by not communicating or offering any input — and letting others do the heavy lifting for them.

Make it a point to split large teams into small groups. In groups of three to eight, your employees have more incentive to speak up and work with their teammates. The Art of Teamwork recommends assigning five or six employees to a collaborative team. Employees may feel more comfortable collaborating and expressing their thoughts when working in smaller groups as well.

Finally, take the time to cultivate healthy communication practices. Company culture isn’t invented overnight. It takes time to build, and it takes into account your employees’ personalities, your leadership style, and your vision for the future. If you feel that your business isn’t as collaborative as you had wished it would be, use the tips listed here to adjust to a culture that works for everyone.

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Brought to you by Lisa Walker

Edited by Temitope Adelekan

Why use Anti-Phishing Attack Software to Ensure Cybersecurity?

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

Phishing

A phishing attack is a process in which an imposter or an attacker sends emails to the users at large claiming to be someone they know or belonging to a brand/ services they use. Most of these emails ask users to share their personal information such as the bank account details, credit card number and pin numbers, or other such information which can lead to identity and financial theft. The emails would also ask the users to open a link or the attached document and download a file. When the user falls prey and performs any of the said actions, the malicious virus hidden in the email will enter their computer. It will provide the attackers access to the computer and allow them to steal the information stored on it without the user’s knowledge.

Over the years, many antivirus software products, spam and malware filters have been developed to detect such emails and prevent the users from being duped. Enterprises have become a hot target for the attackers. Even if one employee in the entire organization would become a victim, the attackers could access and control the entire system of the enterprise.

Almost every enterprise has antivirus software installed along with firewalls, spam filters, and other such email security systems. Yet, a good number of phishing emails slip past the filters and end up reaching the employees. Many employees have been duped and as a result, the enterprises have suffered losses in more ways than one.

If we wonder why, the answer is quite simple. Despite the claims, the traditional antivirus software packages do not successfully detect and prevent all kinds of phishing attacks. With changing technology, attackers are creating innovative methods to slip past the security filters.

What the companies need is phishing attack software that will provide all-round protection by identifying every suspicious and fraudulent email and alerting the users. The attackers not following the old methods of sending easily detectable fake emails. Instead, they are targeting a certain section of employees with highly intelligent email techniques. It is more or less impossible for the traditional antivirus software that relies on a standard database to compare the emails to identify and detect the latest phishing attacks.

If we consider Zero Day Attack as an example, it is one of the newest phishing attacks in the market that doesn’t get detected by most software packages. On average, about 1.5 million new phishing sites and email ids are created. To keep up with the ever-increasing list of fake websites is not a solution. It takes 24-48 hours to create a signature of complex malware, while it takes less than 82 seconds for an employee to fall victim to the phishing attack.

So, we need something uses a different technique to detect fake URLs without spending hours of time on it. Only then can the employees and enterprises be saved from phishing attacks. The latest and advanced phishing attack software used artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to scan and recognize the hidden malicious code in the emails and alert the employees. The most common type of Zero Day attacks are-

  • Microsoft Office Marcos
    • Macros are one of the most helpful tools offered by Microsoft. With one click, the repetitive tasks can be automated, thereby saving time for the employees.
    • When the attacker sends an email attachment with an Excel or other Microsoft file, the macros are coded to install malware throughout the system.
    • Using the machine learning technology, the latest anti phishing software identifies the hidden code and alerts the users about the email be a phishing attack.
  • Malicious Links
    • Embedded links within emails make it easy for websites to share information with their customers.
    • The same feature is used by scammers. They include links that will lead the user to a fake website. The IP address and domain names are similar to the brand they impersonate making it impossible for users to detect it as fraudulent at a single glance.
    • The anti-phishing software uses computer vision technology to read the minute changes in the domain names and also checks the final page which the link leads to.
  • Infected PDFs
    • The attackers take advantage of the features offered by Adobe Acrobat to include malicious software in the PDF files and send them to their victims.
    • The phishing attack software identifies the malware and blocks the email.
  • Embedded Code
    • HTML emails allow employees to include code in the email, which will be executed when the email is opened.
    • The next-generation anti phishing software detects this hidden code and stops it from being executed.

The anti-phishing software works on any device in any location. It can be deployed throughout an enterprise within a matter of minutes.

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Brought to you by David Neeble

Edited by Temitope Adelekan

Underrated Link Building Tactics!

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

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If you wish to expand your client list and attract more quality leads, you need to market and sell your brand. Along the same line, if you aim to rank high on the search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to build links for SEO.

Some of the most popular link building techniques that have been proven effective are guest posting, link reclamation, broken link building, and content syndication, among others. While these have stood the test of time, it’s worth looking into other methods, especially since a lot of link builders have been doing the same strategies for years.

If you want to get ahead of the curve and become the best marketer out there, you need to expand your strategies and find which ones work best.

This infographic guide from Spiralytics enumerates the underrated link building techniques you can add to your SEO strategy.

Below, you’ll find methods that are equally, if not more, effective than the usual ones.

Underrated Link Building Tactics

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Brought to you by Spiralytics

Edited by Temitope Adelekan

Hot Desking is the Office Trend that will Save Your Business Money! (Infographic)

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

GettyImages-530933176_how-does-hotdesking-work

This new office trend saves space, increases flexibility, and adds one more benefit for your employees. In concept, Hot Desking is similar to ride sharing, but for workstations.

As more and more people begin working from home, less and less office space is necessary.  Even when in office, many people prefer to take a laptop to a more comfortable location (or to a collaborative space) in order to get things done. These trends result in a majority of dedicated workstations sitting vacant for much of the time.

Hot Desking creates an efficient way to handle the flexible office, by offering workspace only where and when people actually need it. Employees schedule days where they will work remotely so that there are enough work stations for those who want to come in the office.

The capital you save through this innovation will certainly impress donors. Everyone is excited about this new trend and it’s definitely something to mention when presenting a business plan or looking for a startup loan.

The main Hot Desking strategies are known as Zone and Hoteling.

Zone: This is when specific areas are designated as work areas for teams putting together cooperative projects. These can be reserved by groups who need to work collaboratively.

Hoteling: As the name might suggest, hotelling is having individual workers reserve specific workstations for the times they need them.

In both of these main options, Hot Desking requires some pretty extensive organization. Luckily there are apps already out there that cater to precisely this business strategy. The other major issue that has to be considered when Hot Desking is cleanliness. With so many people using one terminal, germs are bound to spread. It’s important to have a plan in place to keep workstations clean, so illness doesn’t spread around the company. If you’ve seen the statistics on how dirty work computers are… well, you’ll certainly want to keep stations as clean as possible.

Ultimately, Hot Desking is a great way to add convenience and coordination to a modern office.

Check this infographic from Fundera for more information on how Hot Desking can work for you and your company.

Fundera_HotDesking_IG

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Brought to you by Fundera

Edited by Temitope Adelekan

 

How to remodel a store to boost sales

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

StoreRemodel1

In a time where more and more consumers conduct the majority of their shopping online, brick-and-mortar stores need to exploit their advantages. Physical stores can offer a cohesive branding and shopping experience that eCommerce simply can’t.

Of course, brick-and-mortar stores can’t beat the convenience of ordering products online, but they don’t have to. Consumers visit physical stores for the entire experience, rather than just buying an item. Small businesses should cater to this desire to boost sales.

Remodeling your store can be quite the undertaking, however, it will propel your brand forward and raise your bottom line. From colors to floorplans, create an enticing customer journey that will drive purchases. Learn how with the visual below:

StoreRemodel

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Brought to you by Bigrentz

Edited by Temitope Adelekan

6 Ways to Tell if Your Website Was Hacked

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

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If you have the slightest suspicion that your website is hacked or has been hacked for some time, then that’s probably the case. At that point, you should act as soon as possible. Most of the times, people will complain that their browser is alerting them of the hack when they visit their site. It’s either that or the hosting provider took the site offline. This could reveal one scary truth – the hackers have invaded the site for quite some time now, and they might have done considerable damage. Ideally, you should invest in some security products to safely encrypt your website. You should do anything to avoid hackers and invasive attacks. But first, let’s take a look at how you should check whether your website’s health bar. We’ll talk about outside sources here, taking into consideration that even the most vigilant system administrator could overlook certain aspects.

  • Your browser gives you a warning

1

If you or any other visitor stumbled upon this when accessing the website on Chrome, then your site is most probably infected with a healthy dose of malware. For example, this warning tells you that your website has been used as a den for phishing attempts. Links to your website are being sent to other people, tricking them into doing what the hacker wants once they visit the website. How does the hacker achieve this? Malware.

2

The same goes for this warning. It’s self-explanatory, I think. Someone has access to your website’s internal structure, and they installed specific malware programs which infect the devices of your visitors.

  • The hosting provider takes your website offline

Your hosting provider might receive complaints from other users that your site is hacked, or their own autonomous screening programs have detected something wrong. Either way, they’ll immediately cut off your website from the internet. Keep in mind that some hosting providers might also format your server to prevent the infection from spreading to other users. It would be good to have a back-up close-by, just in case this happens. After they’ve closed down your website, you’ll usually receive a notification on your email.

  • Google search results show your website as potentially harmful

If you see this message right next to your website on the Google searches, then you’re probably dealing with hackers.

3

Sometimes, Google will remove your website from the search results altogether, if they have strong reasons to believe the malware is very risky. At times, they’ll still show it, but accompanied by a warning notification. They’ll either say that “This site may be hacked”, when they’ve noticed strange changes made to the website, or that “This site may harm your computer”, which means they’ve successfully detected the malware and they’re reminding you of this. It’s also possible for your website to display different content in different countries as part of a hack. The only way you can detect this is if you use a VPN to check your website from different countries.

  • Your Malware Scanner warns you of an infection

If you’ve been listening to me and decided to employ a malware scanner, then most likely, this is where you’ll first find out that your site is being hacked. With a malware scanner, the time between the infection and its discovery is kept to a minimum, hence its efficiency and my advice. Check your email daily, so you don’t miss any warnings when they do come.

  • Customer complaints

The truth is, your customers get to use your website way more than you do, and if you have thousands of visitors per day, this could be a very handy warning system. Quite cynical, I know, but it gets the job done. If someone informs you of fishy things related to your website, don’t wait and allow things to get out-of-hand! Take it offline if need be!

  • Google’s Search Console warns you of any infections

This console is the former “Google Webmaster Tools”. The name says enough, I think. Use it to check for any inconsistencies Google may have found when it’s indexing your website. It will even provide you with a few statistics with customer visits. As usual, you’ll receive the notifications by mail. So, if you see something like this, then your website is probably hacked.

4

How you can detect a hack before anyone notices

Visiting your website regularly should be your first and foremost prevention solution against malware and hacks. Just make sure to check the code and the databases regularly, and perform a couple of security checks as well. By using a Source Code Scanner, you can inspect all the PHP code and all the other source code to check for any known malware patterns. These programs will either check for any malware signatures that match their database of known infections or compare the suspicious code with a good version of it.

In this way, both old and newer types of malware can be safely detected before the infection gets to spread forth. You can also monitor the site traffic and check for any spikes. These appear when hackers use your website for a spamvertizing campaign. In plain language, they’ll include your link in spam emails which they send to people. Then, they get redirected to the true serpent hiding in the bushes. However, your website will still record a spike in traffic when the users first access the initial link. Searching for these traffic spikes with tools like Google Analytics will cut your time in half, and get you to the bottom of the issue. You’ll quickly have a general idea of whether your website has been hacked or not. Most hacked sites have these traffic spikes, so it’s quite a good hint in that direction.

Conclusion

Keeping your website malware-free is not that hard to accomplish, especially if you proactively search for any issues beforehand. Be vigilant, and you won’t be taken by surprise, that’s the golden rule. Build a routine of constant security check-ups, use Google’s Search Console, and remember to check your email daily for any warning notifications.

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Brought to you by Bogdan Patru – is a cybersecurity news analyst at VPNTeacher. He has a passion for international data policy and how it affects citizens’ privacy.

Edited by Temitope Adelekan

26 must-know ecommerce stats for 2019

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

e-commerce-background-design_1223-90

How often do you shop online? Whether it’s a late-night clothing haul or a much-needed replacement part for your vacuum, customers are making more frequent and significant online purchases. As of today, two-thirds of Americans have made at least one online purchase in the past month. But as of 2040, 95% of all purchases are expected to be made online.

With the boom in e-commerce comes a rise in customer expectations. If you’re a retailer, you now need to focus more effort into shipping times, technology, and customer service. Perfecting the online shopping experience for your customers will be crucial if you want to survive and thrive in this changing landscape.

This infographic below covers 26 must-know online shopping statistics for 2019.

ecommerce-statistics

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Post submitted by Karli K.

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15 ways to get ahead during your lunch break [Infographic]

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

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We live in a world that’s not slowing down. Technology that’s always at our fingertips makes life speed along at record rates. That’s why it’s more important than ever to slow down and get away from screens periodically. Luckily, there’s one opportunity you have every day to do this: your lunch break 🙂

Depending on your work situation, you may or may not have a lot of flexibility during your lunch break. Whether you have 30 minutes or over an hour, working from home or a cubicle, there are lots of ways you can improve your life during lunch. Whether you want to improve your personal, professional, or financial life, a lunch break is a great way to start building good habits.

So how do you choose to spend your break? From going for a jog to working towards a certification, this infographic from Self Lender will inspire you to make the most of your lunch — all in 30 minutes or less.

money-moves-to-make-at-lunch-infographic__1_

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Post submitted by Karli K.

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How Companies Use Scent Marketing to Influence Buyers

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

fragrancex logo

Scent marketing has been used for years by companies across many industries to influence customer opinion, reinforce brand image or encourage sales. Scent is connected to parts of the brain that help us recall memories and experience emotion, which makes it a powerful subliminal tool.

How do companies use scent? It depends on the industry. For instance, Cinnabon bakes their cinnamon rolls towards the front of their stores so that the smell can easily travel outside of the shop. Since they are often in enclosed spaces (like malls), the smell is quite strong and encourages sales.

Companies can also use scent to reinforce brand image or create a certain atmosphere in their stores. For example, the scent of leather can inspire an image of opulence, leading customers to feel like the products sold there are luxurious. It is often used in upscale shops and storefronts.

Many gyms will use the smell of fresh linen to create or reinforce the illusion that their gym is extremely clean. Also, lemongrass can be used to energize and invigorate casino patrons or hotel guests.

There are numerous ways that scent marketing can benefit businesses both large and small. The below infographic from FragranceX delves into the subject a bit more!

the-science-of-scent-marketing-shareable

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Brought to you by FragranceX

Post submitted by Karli J. – Karli is a content marketer who enjoys sharing information on everything from travel and real estate to productivity hacks and marketing best practices. On the weekends, she loves to explore new places, enjoy the outdoors and have a glass or two of vino!

Edited by Temitope Adelekan

What Your Desk Setup Says About You (Infographic)

Posted on by Temitope Adelekan

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Building rapport with your coworkers can be essential to working productively and tackling team projects with ease. However, since our workdays are often filled with meetings, assignments, and calls, it can be challenging to make time to get to know your coworkers over lunch or a coffee break. While it’s a good idea to pay attention to the subtle ways your colleagues are communicating in conversation and nonverbally, there is another way to get to know your coworkers, just by looking at their desks.

Since so many hours of the day are spent at a desk, it’s unsurprising that they can grow to reflect the person who occupies them. Things like photographs of kids and spouses can indicate they are family-oriented, while pictures of their various travels can hint at an adventurous side. While these can spark a conversation on their own, they can also give you insight on how to work with them. For example, you may not want to send any emails to the family-oriented coworker after hours. Or, if you need some new out-there ideas for a brainstorm, ask the person with a picture of themselves hiking a mountain.

Whether you already have a great relationship with your coworkers or just starting a new job, there are insights their (workers) desks can tell you that they may never think to say to you themselves. All you have to do is decode them. To help you with translating what these desks mean, Fundera created this infographic that covers what their desks say about you and your coworkers:

what-your-desk-setup-says-about-you1

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Post submitted by Brigid Ludwig

Edited by Temitope Adelekan