Category: Reviews

Here Is How to Set the Right KPI and Targets For Your Digital Journey?

September 19, 2018

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help you understand whether you are achieving your target goals or not. KPIs also tell you how close you are towards achieving them. KPIs can help you track progress related to expenses, customer insight, revenue, etc. There are KPIs for every business function within an organization. Important sales related KPIs include number of wins, deals, and opportunities, sales qualified leads, etc. Return on marketing investment, customer retention, customer acquisition cost, etc. are examples of marketing KPIs. Measuring customer service KPIs is important too, as it tells you how happy or satisfied your customers are with your brand. Key performance indicators of customer service include Customer Satisfaction Score, first response time, customer retention rate, SERVQUAL developed by Valerie Zeithaml, which measures service + quality, etc. In this article, let us take a look at how you can choose the right KPIs and set targets so that you are always on track. Choosing the right KPIs to improve performance KPIs can be grouped under lagging and leading indicators, and you will need to monitor both. Lagging indicators are those which can be easily measured but hard to influence. Leading indicators, on the other hand, are easy to influence but hard to measure. An example of a lagging KPI is the number of orders placed on a certain day, while an example of a leading indicator would be return on marketing investments. Begin with choosing a KPI Key performance indicators should be SMART, i.e., specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Specific KPIs are easy to track and monitor than vague ones. For instance, a specific KPI would be “exact number of orders placed every week”. A vague KPI would be “Satisfactory order processing”. In other words, it should be reduced to a number in order for it to be tracked. KPIs should also be measurable. If we take the number of orders per week as a KPI, it can be averaged over months and years. KPIs should be realistic so that if employees work hard, they are attainable. If they are unrealistic and unattainable, you stand the risk of demotivating employees. KPIs need to be tracked over a period of time and measured against time too. Make sure you can evaluate your chosen KPI across time phases. An example of KPIs : Image Source: Flickr Monitor and measure KPIs and metrics However, you might wonder what a “metric” is. Metric is a quantifiable measure or that which can be reduced to a number. The number of orders placed on a given day is a metric. However, only when it is studied over a period of time (number of sales per week, observed over many weeks) does the metrics become a KPI. While a KPI helps you measure performance and success, a metric is simply a number that needs to be assessed within a KPI. Reward employees who achieve KPI targets Recent research reveals that setting realistic KPI targets help employees to perform better. Not just that, rewarding employees when they achieve or surpass KPI targets will incentivize their performance. This IBM white paper explores how the right employee behavior can be rewarded and motivated by using KPIs. An interesting observation of the paper is to reward teams instead of choosing individual employees for rewards. This motivates entire teams to work harder to achieve set KPI targets. Key Performance Indicators (KPI): The 75 measures every manager needs to know by Bernard Marr is an important book that can help you familiarize with using the right KPIs to evaluate employee performance and encouraging them to achieve KPIs set for other areas. Review and make changes to your KPI strategy Conduct regular audits of the KPI targets and assess the metrics associated with each KPI. If they are under-performing, you might want to set a more realistic goal. If you have been consistently performing high, set yourself a higher target that is tied around time phases. Choose a different KPI is the one you have chosen is not getting you the result you need. You may also need to vary your targets consistently depending on your business success. A neutral observer will help you take an objective look at your KPI performance, and provide you with a more realistic picture of your situation. Speaking to a consultant that specializes in KPI metric analysis helps. KPIs help businesses to get back on track KPI is a measurable value that helps businesses achieve targets. KPIs help businesses to understand and evaluate their performance so that they can be further improved over time. Choose the right KPIs carefully and make sure that they are specific in what they measure, quantifiable so that what you measure can be reduced to numbers, and that they can realistically be attained. They must also be relevant to your goals and success, and must always be measured against time. Once you choose your KPIs and set targets, you should continuously monitor and measure your chosen KPI metrics. Make sure to reward employees (preferably teams) who enthusiastically work towards attaining KPIs. Finally, always review your KPI strategy and make changes to it if need be.

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Differentiation: The Biggest Area for IT Investment in BFSI Sector

June 22, 2015

The Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector is considered to be the 2nd largest consumer of technology in the world; the first being the Telecom sector. As a consequence, the entire sector, both globally and in India, is expected to witness an increased momentum for different kinds of cloud based solutions. In fact, this highly-regulated sector in the country of India is believed to bring in a lot of growth opportunities. Which is the best IT investment area in the BFSI sector of India? One of the prime areas, as Oracle, the computer technology giant, thinks it to be is “differentiation”, when it comes to IT investment in the BFSI sector. It is more relevant for the Indian BFSI sector for the following reasons: The big players would be concentrating more on digitalization of their products or services. They are more likely to adopt digital distribution of products and services than opening up new branches on different locations. Termed as “the retirement decade”, this decade is being anticipated to come up with about 3 lakhs vacancies in different banks of the public sector, which in turn would pave the way for a major IT spend towards capital and talent management. Finance and integrated risk is another big area for IT investment. Though, initially, it has never been an investment-worthy area, however, the introduction of IFRS, Basel III regulation and a number of other regulatory prescriptions by RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and BIS (Bank of International Settlements) has led to an increased IT investment in this arena. Does cloud feature in the portrayed IT investment trends? Research says that the conventional technologies are still attracting about 70% of the entire IT investment. However, big players like Oracle strongly believes that it’s not far when the IT investment trend would shift from the traditional back office data management to technologies related to customer interaction, mobility, on the fly analytics management etc. Even different studies by some of the famous research firms speak in favour of this. Let’s see how: McKinsey’s Research A recent study by McKinsey shows that the total number of customers opting digital banking is more likely to rise remarkably on a global level. In Asia, the number is expected to reach about 1.7 billion by the year 2020, out of which the country of India alone has been portrayed to have 450 million digital banking customers by the end of that year. Now, in such a scenario, banks looking forward towards acquiring new digital-minded customers need to explore cloud based technologies. In a nutshell, it is better for banks to deploy technologies that can help them glide into the digital banking era. Gartner’s Research According to this reputed IT research and advisory firm of America, more than 60% of the global banks would resort to the cloud based transaction processing. In fact, this is what is making the IT departments of those banks become increasingly bimodal. Coined by this IT research firm, the concept “Bimodal IT” refers to the IT departments of banks having the following two operational modes: Lights on mode Innovation mode However, in order to catch up with the continued changes in customer behaviours, banks based in different parts of the world would need to continue investing in the traditional technologies and simultaneously adopting cloud technologies. Now, this adoption of cloud technologies would not just be completely cost-driven and triggered by improvements in the efficiency level but would primarily be an effect of the major shift in banking behaviours of modern customers; and banks, which plan to stay ahead need to surely opt the emerging cloud technologies. After all, unless a bank cannot be differentiated from others in the positive sense, it can never stay ahead of its competitors. This is what would call for more IT investment in the BFSI sector. In fact, the sector has already started witnessing the growing IT investment opportunity for “differentiation”. The big technology players in the world like Oracle are thinking of introducing “Data-as-a-Service” in place of the traditional Platform-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service. This newly introduced notion would enable banks to build digital profiles for customers, based on customers’ daily banking behaviours and drive their revenue accordingly; and all of these just points to the increasing IT investment for differentiation in the BFSI sector.

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Indian Programmers Need Nurturing, Not Arbitrary Judgments

June 17, 2015

A few weeks ago, Snapdeal cheerfully declared that “right programmers are rare in India” and the tech world went abuzz about how right or wrong that statement was. Javed Anwar, in an article published on the India Today, a leading Indian magazine, came to certain arbitrary conclusions that many faculty members in India with great CVs did not know even the basics of what they were teaching and that they also lacked insight about the implications of plagiarizing research. The author concluded that Snapdeal had to look for people from outside and that “that is the only way for it to grow”. How much of these conclusions are valid and how many of these claims are without biases and prejudices? If we scratched the surface, it is quite evident that a single company’s decision to recruit programmers from abroad does not say anything about the actual situation in hand. To begin with, some of the largest and most important companies of the world have recruited Indian programmers. For example, Zoho built its entire product team from the scratch in India. Whether in India or in the U.S. or just about any country in the world, what is truly important is nurturing talent where it is found, taking corporate culture seriously and shouldering industry responsibility. These factors can be religiously followed by companies who are in the game for long haul, as we do at Indus Net Technologies. Existing problems and possible solutions It is an often repeated attempt at humor that Indians first become engineers, and then proceed further toward planning their futures and careers. This is mostly because of affordable education because of which more people can access higher education even if they do not have passion for certain subjects. Moreover, software engineering has always been the surest ticket out of poverty, as The Atlantic magazine noted way back in October, 2013. In an insightful article titled “Behind the ‘Bad Indian Coder’”, The Atlantic discussed what is now being discussed post-Snapdeal fiasco – that Indian education system has failed its citizens. It is not the Indian programmers that lack skills but the way they are taught that makes them think in slightly different ways than their western counterparts. This includes rote-learning, lack of researching and Gestalt skills & an inability to be innovative even while they possess the talent. While overhauling Indian education system is going to take time, what really needs to be understood is that the responsibility of nurturing talent falls squarely upon Indian service providers. Indian IT companies that recruit these poorly paid programmers are often in a hurry to churn out codes rather than encourage real talent to grow from within organically. What really happens at the end of the day is, Indian programmers are fired by their Indian employers if they do not meet or achieve targets. Consequently, there is no real room for innovation or nurturing talent. The companies that really excel in India are those that actually take time to nurture their employees and sort of provide a second education. Indian companies that realize the problems are focusing more on polishing and nurturing their existing employees, instead of forcing them to produce code, just as they were forced to produce homework in school. Thankfully, companies that nurture talent, speak for themselves and their employees are in demand internationally, whether they are Indian or not. What do we do at Indus Net Technologies to nurture talent? If companies feel there is a dearth of quality programmers, it is often their own responsibility to train their employees and nurture existing talents. At Indus Net, we nurture skilled resources and use that as a differentiator from the persistent noise in the industry. With more than 550 talented employees in two distinct units, we are able to focus on encouraging each individual to achieve a sort of self-actualization in their professional field. Among the two groups, one focuses on SMBs and the other on the enterprise grade projects. We follow a protocol when it comes to quality bench-marking. This process involves training new recruits and allowing them to form internal teams & build something on their own, under the leadership and guidance of a seasoned project manager. The project manager ensures that skilled resources are individually trained and nurtured before they interact or start working on client projects. The process includes cross-cultural sensitization, technical skills, focus on innovation and creativity & honing one’s existing skills and talents. Indus Net Labs is one of our unique ways to encourage our employees to spend 20% of their time creating something on their own. This is inspired by Google’s similar projects. Some of the products that resulted from Indus Net Labs initiative are SocialFire (a WhatsApp for businesses and organizations), Mobileafs (a digital publishing solution) and InfraFix (an eGovernance and maintenance solution). Let us not be prejudiced and biased To say that Indian programmers are not talented is a prejudiced and biased way of looking at things, to the point of sounding colonial. What really is ailing today’s programmers is lack of opportunities to innovate and nurture their own talent. This can be made possible by following our example of allowing individuality, creativity and ideas to be nurtured. While there are certain cultural problems that seem to portray Indian programmers in an unfavorable light, the onus remains on companies to hire and nurture promising IT talent. With a keen sense of technology and already-existing English skills, Indian programmers can be groomed into world class professionals, just like we have been doing for several years at Indus Net Technologies.

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Twitter’s Tale of the Month – Introducing Group Direct Message and Mobile Video

June 1, 2015

Among Twitter’s numerous updates, the one that caught our attention is its recent launch of Group Direct Messages (DM) and Mobile Video to share more content, photos, videos, links, tweets and emoji. Twitter, now enables users to send direct messages to a group of up to 20 followers unlike before. Users do not need to follow one another to participate. What is so different with Group Direct Message? Group Direct Messages do not appear in the public timeline. The direct message has up to 20 participants. However, additional users can also be added to the conversation at any time and by any member of the group. It gives users the option for how and with whom they can communicate. Merchants can use group messaging via desktop as well as mobile devices. Online retailers can discuss their business activities in a private setting with a selected group of individuals. Group messaging can collaborate privately with other members of your business, social media team or workplace. How to create a Group Direct Message? You can start your direct messaging session by clicking on the ‘Messages’ tab. Once you click on the ‘New Message’ icon on the top of your screen or the speech bubble icon on your mobile, you can search for the names of the people you’d like to add. When users are added to a group message, they’ll get a notification informing them that they’re a part of a group direct message. In the address box, enter the name(s) or the @username(s) to whom you want to send a message. Now, click ‘next’, type the message and click on ‘send message’. When you’re initiating a group direct message to share a tweet or discuss something, you can begin chatting directly from your timeline on the web. Now select ‘Share via Direct Message’ after clicking the icon on the three dots at the bottom of any tweet. How Merchants can Utilize DM? Merchants follow four different ways to use Group DM. They can use group messaging to showcase new product and receive feedback or leap ideas off a select group of customers. By giving your loyal followers a glimpse of your upcoming services, you can receive valuable feedback. This is an excellent way to build strong relationships with the customers. Group DM can engage users with Hashtag chats without disrupting the public timeline. This is a popular form of Twitter engagement. For encouraging retweet, merchants can select a loyal group of Twitter-connected customers and share public tweets through Group DM. With Group DM, a long conversation can be continued without interrupting the public timeline. With Group DM, merchants can communicate with their followers more easily and swiftly. Group DM is a great way to help your followers find what exactly they’re looking for. Sharing messages with brand advocates can become more efficient if they’re done as a part of a group message. If you do not provide the product or service that they’re looking for, you can always refer them to the relevant service providers and in a way, engage them in 3-way conversation. What’s Next? Besides, Twitter has also introduced a video capture feature for the iOS and Android apps. It allows users to capture, edit and share videos up to 30 seconds directly from within the mobile app. They appear as thumbnails within your timeline that play when tapped on. Twitter video involves three stages: 1. Capture: You can hold down the record button to capture video content, if your message contains videos. 2. Edit: You can delete clips and rearrange others by utilizing a drag-n-drop process. You can hold the thumbnail image of the clip and drag it onto the main screen, if you have to remove the clip. A trash can icon will appear. 3. Share: Once the recording and editing of the video is done, it appears as an image in the posting area & is ready for sharing with the followers. How Does It Benefits the Online Merchants? You can always ask your audience to share their videos using your products or request for video testimonials. This helps you to measure your product performance. If a customer is unaware of how to use your products, the recorded demonstration need not take more than a minute to explain in details. This is a great way to share product knowledge without having to make the customers get annoyed. It is easier to influence the potential customers with a quick 30 second video portfolio that they can view without leaving Twitter. Group messages and videos offer new opportunities to host competitions & other offerings. The ability to converse, maintain confidentiality and show a quick video give online merchants more options for how & with whom they can communicate on Twitter and spread their brand name.

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Will Net Neutrality Receive its Due Justice?

May 25, 2015

Now your experience of watching videos online could soon become a hit or flop experience….you might experience either a flawless and smooth network or it could be extremely frustrating with interrupted services; and the reason behind this uncertainty has nothing to do with technology but with money making policy. It is to check how much a company is willing to pay to provide content faster onto internet connections. New Regulation against Net Neutrality Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voiced their concern against Net Neutrality as whether all content need to be treated equally or not. They emphasized on ‘paid prioritization’. They are trying to create a two-tier internet system – two virtual lanes; one fast and one slow internet. Now, this is something which is not fair enough! Recently, many internet service providers including Time Warner Cable, Verizon or AT&T strike deals with YouTube, Facebook and other web content firms for priority internet access to consumers. This means a content providing company can pay to an internet service provider company like Verizon or AT&T to have its traffic on the fast lane for better user experience. Similarly, many such other companies will follow the same rule. In a way, the internet service providers make more money and the costs for content providers shoot up. Now, the question lies how would the content companies recover these costs? They are left with no choices but to charge their customers more. The net result is that you and I will have to pay more for everything on the internet. Nonetheless, the start-up businesses will have a tough time to compete in the market. In fact, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) planned to block apps and websites to extract more money from businesses and consumers. It supported extreme violation of Net Neutrality. Airtel and Internet.org are two entities that were a threat to Net Neutrality. Both of them were offering plans that involved using websites and apps free of cost. Apparently, they looked like good plans; however, the real cleverness lies in their strategy to charge more money from you for data packages. The Ongoing Debate However, the FCC’s and TRAI’s attempts to execute enforceable and sustainable rules to prioritize internet access to its users have been twice struck down by the court. The debate is still persisting as what’s good for corporations vs. what’s good for citizens of the nations? Net Neutrality is not only a fight between the big tech companies but its existence will highly affect the future of how billions of people access the internet. The Cause behind Net Neutrality Network Neutrality or Net Neutrality is the concept of treating all traffic equally, regardless of what data is being sent – it could be VOIP calls, emails, web searches or streaming videos. Internet Service Providers cannot block traffic to certain sites, in order to allow higher traffic to some other sites to get through. Any individual who have access to the internet needs to be able to find what they need online without any kind of hindrances. Net Neutrality advocates that internet is too important to the economy and democracy. It is a critical tool to conduct commerce, communicate, educate, innovate and engage in the world around. Supporters of Net Neutrality Supporters believe that consumers are already paying for connectivity and they certainly deserve to get a quality experience. Violating the core rule governing the internet will be a ruinous way of delivering justice. They say ISPs… Need not be allowed to accept money from companies to make internet service run faster for subscribers Need not strangle user’s bandwidth, if they reach a fixed data cap Need not block competing websites from subscribers Need not exempt companies from data cap for paying more money The Open Internet Order The order is in support of transparency when it comes to broadband providers’ responsibilities. They need to be sincere when it comes to management practices, performance reviews and terms & conditions of the services. Also, they cannot discriminate transmitting lawful internet traffic to websites. Absence of Net Neutrality and Its Impact on the World of Commerce If companies providing internet service makes it difficult to get access to internet, numerous commerce platforms would have a negative impact on hundreds and thousands of SMEs that rely on them as a means to reach their existing customers & prospects across the world. Net Neutrality reduces the barriers of entry for entrepreneurs, by ensuring that the web is a fair field to work on. It is only because of Net Neutrality that entrepreneurs have been able to thrive on internet. The internet needs to be open to foster job growth, innovation and competition; and without Net Neutrality, ISPs would seize every possible opportunity to earn profit. Letter to FCC (Source: Bussiness2Community) Major tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Amazon and more asked FCC to encourage Net Neutrality. The letter says, “Instead of permitting individualized bargaining and discrimination, the Commission’s rule should protect users and Internet companies…against blocking, discrimination and paid prioritization….” What’s Next? With opponents challenging the new rules in the court and some Republicans in Congress upholding open-internet legislation that would supplant the new regulation against Net Neutrality, the Federal Communications Commission finally approved the policy of Net Neutrality by a 3-2 vote. They ensured that no corporate or governmental body should rule free open access to the internet. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg says he is no enemy of Net Neutrality. On the other hand, over 10 million emails have already been sent to TRAI to prevent Net Neutrality in India from being manipulated. It has also received around 7-8 lakh comments on its discussion paper to preserve the Internet’s free and open character in India.

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INT. #JeSuisCharlie

We at Indus Net Technologies (INT.), #JeSuisCharlie

January 15, 2015

By now, each one of us has felt the horror and sadness viscerally. We have all said “#JeSuisCharlie” to ourselves, to our friends and colleagues and in status updates using the same hashtag on our social media accounts. #JeSuisCharlie (which means, “I am Charlie” in French), as a hashtag, has come to symbolize the pain and sadness with which the whole world has observed the saga from our comfort zones of offices & homes. People and security officers in France did not have that luxury, with the fear of an imminent attack lurking in their mortified minds. As a corporation and as an organization that values diversity, freedom of speech & respect for human life, everyone at INT. was horrified by the tragedy that took place at Charlie Hebdo’s 11th arrondissement office in Paris; and our heartfelt sadness & sheer disbelief at the loss of talented human lives and hardworking police officers are beyond what words could probably describe. All over the world, the same shock, sadness and pain were felt when four hostages were killed at the Vincennes Kosher Supermarket. It has been more than a week since the terrorist attacks took place in France and the world is slowly returning to what it used to be, with yet another Charlie Hebdo issue out on magazine stands. The tenacity and the strength with which the staff of Charlie Hebdo has worked in the last few days & the dignified manner in which most French citizens have reacted to the horror are admirable. Also admirable is the unanimous condemnation of violence from all corners of the world, regardless of nationality or religion. Charlie Hebdo probably will never be silenced, thanks to the efforts of Google, Le Monde (the leading French newspaper) and other generous donors, who have responded with financial, human resource & infrastructural support. In the safety and comfort of our offices & homes, we can only reflect on what freedom of speech means and how an attack of this proportion can marginalize several communities, which are already vulnerable. Being a tragedy of immense proportions, it hits us raw at Indus Net (INT.) because we are in the business of drawing, creating and animation. While our corporate animation projects have nothing in common with the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, we empathize with their creativity; and it saddens us to think that creativity, no matter how offensive, can hit back at the creators with crude violence. It saddens us to think that budding cartoonists and satire artists will probably now self-censor, even when they needn’t, out of fear of repercussions. It saddens us to think that more people will continue to crystallize their deeply held biases and prejudices against certain communities because of the actions of a radical few. It saddens us to think that talented cartoonists who used their creativity to question certain ideas were silenced with bullets. We might or might not agree with what artists say or create but they provide us with opportunities to reflect on society and its many shortcomings. As a society, what are we to do then? To argue, philosophize, intellectualize or rationalize acts of terror is futile. To engage in knee-jerk reactions and beginning to self-censor ourselves is futile too. The only plausible and sensible reaction to the tragedy is to express our genuine shock & grief and to offer condolences to all those who lost their lives or were injured during the attack. Another reaction is to hope; hope that the world will change for the better. The world over, too many people have lost their lives and continue to do so in other acts of violence & we take this moment to offer our condolences to everyone who was affected by this and the many other unnecessary tragedies which continue to take place. We end this eulogy by hoping that creative expression is not silenced and that marginalized groups are not further marginalized by this act of terror. We hope people everywhere take a moment to pay respect to those who lost their lives; and we hope that the friends & family members of those who lost their lives find the strength to grieve and move ahead, never forgetting the laughter & smiles that those who were slain once gifted to their readers.

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Fence Your WordPress Website from Hackers with “Wordfence” Security Plugin

December 15, 2014

Have you ever thought that your WordPress website can be hacked? Are you ready to face the adversities of such an attack that can put your site and blogs at stake? If you are pondering about how to secure your website from such attacks/hack, then this blog is a must-read for you. Hackers across the globe are always actively working on their plans to hack websites that are of interest to them; and obviously WordPress based websites are no exception. In fact, the present frequency of hacking attacks across all WordPress sites is increasing every minute. So, isn’t it wise to secure your tirelessly created website before it gets hacked? Off course it is! How to Secure Your WordPress Website Securing the WordPress site you have is not that tough with ‘Wordfence’ Security plugin. All you need to do is download the latest version of the plugin, which is one of the premier cyber security solution developed specifically for securing WordPress websites. It’s a free WordPress security plugin that includes a comprehensive package of anti-virus and firewall incorporating tools & machine learning that can help your website recover from any major hack. However, the premium version of the security plugin is even available with some extra features at a cost of $ 3.90 to $ 39 per year. What You Would Get Wordfence, featured with a number of unique security features, is the sole WordPress site security plugin that offers real-time distributed protection by learning from other websites that have already been hacked. Once it gets notified about a hack attempt on WordPress website running Wordfence, it automatically blocks that particular attacker not only for that site but also from intruding into the other sites running this security plugin. How Wordfence Secures Your WordPress Website Here are the features that help Wordfence to be so much active in maintaining your website security: Cellphone Sign-in: Even referred to as Two Factor Authentication, Cellphone Sign-in allows you to sign-in to your website through cellphone and permanently stop brute force attacks. Network and Geo-blocking: This feature helps in blocking WordPress hackers even when they change IP address for hacking. Wordfence directly bans their network, range of IP addresses and country & makes WordPress security stronger. Site Repair: Being backed by cloud servers, Wordfence can help you identify the hacked files. When your WordPress website gets hacked, Wordfence uses its source code verification feature for letting you know what has changed in your site so that you can easily repair the files that have been hacked. Machine Learning: This feature of Wordfence keeps your WordPress website pre-protected when someone else’s website receives a hack attempt. It reports attacks on a real-time basis to its cloud server and this in turn, helps it identify the IP address & block it for all the websites running Wordfence. Source Code Verification: Wordfence not just verifies the integrity of the core source code and opensource plugins & themes of your WordPress website but even does a full scan of unrecognizable files. It even scans the source code that remote scans are unable to do. What Limitations Wordfence Has In spite of all the aforementioned features and benefits, this WordPress security plugin is not free from limitations. Here are the loop holes of the plugin: You might need to wait for a while to get a tech support. If you are unsure about how to use the plugin, it might provide you with false positives. If the plugin is misconfigured, it causes Wordfence to stop working without any prior intimation. Scanning of websites tends to occupy a lot of memory. Currently, it does not include security from fake sign-ups. Final Thoughts Despite all of these limitations, Wordfence is a feature-packed and efficient cyber security plugin that can protect your WordPress website on a real-time basis at a affordable price. Detailed information about this security plugin can be availed at the site of Wordfence. Further, for any technical support you may consult us at info@indusnet.co.in

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Which Events Justify Writing a Press Release?

October 7, 2013

A while ago when people still continued to misunderstand search engine optimization and web optimization, someone came up with the great idea of suing press releases to boost search engine rankings. It did work for some people but did not work for the rest of them. Let us take a deep look at why writing press releases did not work for many people later in this article. Before that, one must understand why press releases became so popular for website owners in the first place. What is a press release anyway? A press release is basically a professionally written piece of communication specifically targeted at journalists. A company that writes or publishes press releases hopes to be published or written about in any of the mainstream newspapers or magazine. When online journalism and lately, professional blogging took off, search engines began to rank these excellent online magazines and news websites higher than other websites. Companies and PR firms began to understand that if these online newspapers and magazines write about a company or its products, a tremendous amount of traffic would be directed to the company’s website and its search engine ranking would be boosted. Why journalists and bloggers usually discard press releases Well, that was a naive way to think of things. While the format may look neat and simple, it is not very simple. Firstly, journalists and bloggers are inundated with press releases. They do not read 90% of the press releases they come across (well, we made up that statistic, and who doesn’t?). It is safe to admit that a majority of bloggers, journalists and news writers do not read a number of press releases that come their way. That is because, they know that press releases are written only to gain traffic, search rankings and increased web presence. Consequently, they ignore much of the press releases that come their way. With that in mind, here are some of the occasions when companies small and large write press releases When there is a product launch When there is an event When there is a celebrity coming ‘home’ When financials are released When a company makes profit When a company chooses to write press releases When a company does not choose to write press releases When the weather is hot, cold, rainy or windy As you can see, press releases are written all the time, without thinking much about whether it is really news worthy and if it is really going to be picked up by journalists and bloggers. While press releases can effectively boost traffic, rankings and build media mentions when they are used appropriately, one needs to know what these appropriate situations are. In other conditions, you might want to ask yourselves twice or even thrice before writing and publishing a press release. Here are some of the most important circumstances that warrant writing a press release: Product and service launches – Whenever a new product or service is launched, it warrants a press release. However, firmware updates, software upgradations require press releases only if they are important enough. Otherwise, you can just tweet/blog/update your Facebook account with the news. Celebrity endorsements – This almost always requires a press release written and we shall not go deep into that. Business collaborations – Whenever you communicate or sign agreements with another company, you may write a press release. Corporate responsibility activities – When you do something good for the community, write a press release about it and organize a small event as well. However, if you donate a very small amount of money to an organization, you probably should not be writing a press release for that. Awards and recognitions – This is a touchy issue. You may write a press release if you have been awarded or recognized for your achievements only if the awarding body is significant. If a local organization that nobody has heard of provides you with a badge of honor, it is something you should not announce to journalists or bloggers. Finally, do not write press releases unless you are sure that it is worthy enough to be published in an important blog, magazine or newspaper. Press release is an important form of communication and can easily boost business to business social media activity. Only, you must ensure that your press release is newsworthy.

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India Fares Better than Other Global Dedicated Hiring Destinations

July 29, 2013

India is one of the best countries suited for dedicated hiring. The country hosts a huge number of qualified graduates and professionals who unfortunately remain unemployed and are willing to compromise on salaries. This was the situation prevalent a few years ago when many IT companies made their way into smaller cities other than Bangalore. Recession has further exacerbated unemployment forcing employees to work for a lot lesser than before. Some of the factors that make dedicated hiring feasible in India There are a wide range of factors that make dedicated hiring welcome in urban India as compared to other global destinations and here’s how you can capitalize on it.  They are 1. Keenness Unemployment is on the rise in India because of the recent global slowdown. There are many technical graduates looking for suitable jobs in the IT sector. Many of the new inductees have been issued offer letters from previous companies, but are not provided with specific date of joining. There are many technical colleges in India and thus the demand for new recruits lags far behind the supply. Being unemployed for nearly months and years, fresh graduates are ready to work regardless of the challenges that employers may pose. Many of them are so keen to find a job that they consider the possibility of moving to the Gulf countries, which is not usually seen as an attractive overseas destination due to climatic and political conditions. Such is the keenness among fresh graduates that they may be willing to work on a discount, if they come across a reliable offshore employer who requires dedicated employees. This makes it easy for offshore clients to look for the best employees at a reduced cost provided they prove the credentials and achievements of their companies. 2. People willing to work in late night shifts In many cities that are strewn all over the vast expanse of the India, working in late night shifts is the norm. People won’t mind exploring the possibility of working late in the nights provided you entice them with fat pay packages in the form of allowances for working late. This works out for you in a way, if you exempt people in designations, preferably the corporate cadre from the normal work. They will be motivated from the fact that after four or five years, they are promoted and eventually be spared from the hectic work along with night shifts. It works to your advantage and you can succeed in convincing them to work in night shifts. This makes it easy to monitor their activities and communicate with them in real time. The activities that are of the highest priority and require prompt attention from your side can be attended to. Also, you can hire select dedicated employees with certain designations so that they can monitor and manage other dedicated offshore employees of yours. 3. Abundance of cheap labor There is a large influx of migrants from less affluent destinations to the cities in hopes of landing a good job. These are mainly graduates from lower-middle income families and settle for competitive salaries as the prospects of finding a good job are almost nil in this time of global slowdown. These migrant people settle for a reasonable pay as long as it is at par with the prevalent industry standards here, which is very low, when compared with international standards. The standard of living in India can be comparatively less when pitted with other global destinations for dedicated hiring.  Though bigger cities like Mumbai and Delhi are expensive, most offshoring destinations within India are affordable not only for dedicated employees but also their offshore clients. 4.  Longer working hours People in India have no qualms about the introduction of longer working hours. Many companies here have bound their employees by certain Service Level Agreements. This agreement binds them to finish the day’s work even though it means having to stay for longer hours at work irrespective of the stipulated work timings. This is in stark contrast to the work timings in countries elsewhere. These stretchable working hours can be a boon to offshore businesses that choose to hire dedicated employees in India. 5. Abundance of technical job seekers and their employability The Indian IT industry provides direct employment to 2.5 million people. This figure alone can give a vague idea of the amount of people vouching for technical jobs in India. It possesses a rich talent pool that specializes in technical expertise. There are a wide variety of technical institutes too that impart quality training. These technical institutes groom a student by equipping him with a lot of necessary skills that make him employable in the related industry. Many technical courses offer Inplant Training as part of the curriculum for undergraduates to let them have a feel of the industry. This helps them to garner rich industry experience during the duration of their technical course. 6. English as the medium of instruction in technical schools English sells in India. There are many mannerisms in India that are influenced by those of the English speaking nations. The urban populace has accepted English with open arms, be it the clothes they wear or their food habits or even the culture. Because English is a global language, many universities have chosen it as their medium of instruction. There is no need for you to spend in improving the communication skills of your new recruits. These are reasons enough for you to consider India for your dedicated programming needs. Now, let us look at the cities in India that are viable options for you to invest. Some cities that are favorable for your dedicated hiring needs Let us take a look at few of the cities in India where you can look forward to hire temporary employees for your dedicated programming needs. •Bangalore Bangalore is the preferred destination in India for many IT related companies to invest. The state administration has created a sportive atmosphere here for these companies.

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What? How? Why? About Pinterest and Some Useful Tips

April 7, 2012

The latest social networking site, Pinterest has attracted a lot of press lately. While many have begun to swear by it, there are many of us who still do not understand this novel tool and how it might help us to drive traffic to websites, organize design projects and add a little colour to an otherwise text-filled world. What is Pinterest? In simple terms, Pinterest is an online space where one could organize pictures that are interesting. These images can either be uploaded originally or shared after running into an image while browsing. Once an image is uploaded or shared on Pinterest, it becomes a ‘pin’. A collection of pins that are related to each other can then be organized under themed Boards. It is up to the user what the boards are going to be named, or what sort of ‘Pins’ the board would consist of. How is Pinterest Used? Pinterest comes with an official ‘Pin It Button’, which is a browser extension. Each time you come across an image you like, you could click on the image and pin it under a board of your choice. Of course, you could accompany the ‘Pin’ with a caption or lengthier text as well. At the moment, it is possible to use your iPhone to Pin original pictures. Images can be categorized for further use, or for inspiration. All the hats that you like may be pinned under a specific board, so that others may see which hat you like. Or, you might want to pin pictures of apartments that you may find interesting, and pin them under a board titled ‘Possible Apartments to Buy’. The possibilities are endless! It is also a great tool to make lists of products that you may find attractive online, which you may choose to buy at a later stage. While you can always pin all day long anything that catches your eye, Pinterest is better used with a specific purpose in mind. Moreover, Pinterest can serve as a collaborative tool, with which you can collect images, brainstorm and work on issues that may be important to you. Pinterest is an open and public network. Anybody can follow anyone, and one is not obliged to follow back. One could categorize pins under hashtags, similar to Twitter hashtags. Who Uses Pinterest? Pinterest’s power users are aged between 25 and 44, and 80% of the users are female. They also earn a lot more than most people and have some level of college education. They tend to be located in the Midwestern states of the United States. However, this demographic is quickly changing to include people from other countries, and a growing number of men who have begun to use Pinterest for design projects. Can Pinterest Drive Traffic? All said and done, Pinterest is an important traffic driver to websites. It is particularly important to retail brands, as their products depend on visual appeal. Pinterest was launched way back in 2010, but it already has more than 10.4 million users. Of course, it can’t be compared with Facebook’s 845 million users or Twitter’s 200 million users. What needs to be understood is that Pinterest targets a certain visually oriented target audience, which could be a great platform to look for niche traffic. If one were to consider referral traffic, Pinterest is almost equal to Twitter, with both driving 3.6% of web traffic. Facebook on the other hand, has a share of 26.4%. LinkedIn and Google+ lag behind at 0.2%. Why Pinterest is Important to Web Designers? Most images that are pinned lead to a source link and as Pins can be ‘liked’ or ‘repinned’, they come with a promising traffic driving potential. This is perhaps what would interest SEO specialists and web admins. When it comes to web designers, it is rather easy to surmise that they would pin templates, images and graphics that they may want to use in certain projects. Pinterest is collaborative and social, which also means that web designers can use it to present design ideas to clients. Again, like we always say with social sites, the possibilities are endless. Pinterest is being increasingly seen as a promising tool for web designers, mostly because of its visual nature. Pinterest allows you to organize links based on images that you see on various websites. These images, which might be websites that inspire you to design similarly, could be clubbed under various categories of boards. Top 10 Tips to Use Pinterest 1) Use Pinterest on Websites It is very important to make your presence on Pinterest known to visitors to your website. Pinterest has a number of goodies, which can help you to add Pinterest buttons, either on the page or on individual products that you display. This would encourage visitors to pin products on your site, and eventually drive traffic back to your website, probably resulting in sales. 2) The Right Etiquette Like any other social media website, it is important to not sound like you are over promoting yourself or your products. It is alright to promote your products, but your boards must include images and links to themes, ideas and interests that can be associated with your business. It is important to be nice, polite and non intrusive. 3) Engagement and Participation Increase the number of pins and boards, and keep them relevant to your business. Follow people who follow you, and engage in conversations about what they like and dislike. The more images you pin, the more traffic you will drive back to your website. 4) Keywords and Hashtags Just like in Twitter, Pinterest allows you to use keywords and hashtags relevant to particular pins. For instance, #Flash, #design, #CSS can be relevant hashtags to your web design projects. It is important to identify which hashtags are most relevant to your business. If you are a developer, you could perhaps link images to your blog posts that describe coding, screenshots of HTML and PHP codes, etc. 5) Interest Groups There

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