Category: Strategy

Cracking the code

Cracking the Code: 5 Strategies for Successful Offshore Development

June 11, 2024

Are you considering offshore development for your software projects?  With the offshore software development market estimated to reach a market size of US$812.70 billion by 2029, it is a smart move. This may seem straightforward, but successful offshore development takes strategic planning and effective execution. On that note, let us go through 5 key strategies to navigate your way to success with offshore development. Strategy 1: Building the Right Team When it comes to offshore development, building the right team is the key. However, the success of your project would largely depend on what the structure of your offshore development team is. It starts with making the right selection with developers that are aptly equipped with what you have in mind. Do not simply rely on technical competency while hiring members for your project team. Rather, assess based on key goals and project requirements. Check their earlier work, how they communicate, and whether they work in different time zones as needed. In addition, it is extremely important to have a straightforward yet efficient communication system to create a good work atmosphere within the team. This could mean regular video calls, collaborative project management tools, or a greater emphasis on establishing an open communication and idea-sharing culture. When team members feel they can express differences of opinions, ask questions, and provide feedback, you are more likely to generate innovative solutions and tighter teamwork. Moreover, investing time in helping the team build and celebrate both individual wins and overall progress can increase team cohesion and motivation considerably. By paying meticulous attention to the composition of your offshore development team and nurturing a culture of effective communication and collaboration, you can significantly increase the likelihood of a successful and smooth-running project. Strategy 2: Establishing Clear Objectives To ensure the success of your offshore development project, it is crucial to start by setting clear and achievable objectives. Clear project goals and expectations need to be defined, and it’s essential that they are aligned with your overall business objectives. This alignment is instrumental in maintaining focus and keeping development efforts on track. In addition to setting clear objectives, establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) is vital for measuring progress and ensuring that the work of the offshore team is in sync with your broader business goals. By defining KPIs, you can track and assess the effectiveness and success of offshore development, making it easier to keep the project aligned with your overarching business objectives. Strategy 3: Implementing Robust Communication Channels Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful offshore development. Overcoming communication barriers between onshore and offshore teams is crucial for avoiding misunderstandings, maximising productivity, and fostering a strong working relationship. Leveraging technology for seamless interaction such as high-quality video conferencing, real-time instant messaging, and purpose-built project management tools, can facilitate immediate communication and collaboration. This will help bridge the physical distance between teams. Additionally, regular updates, progress reports, and transparent documentation further contribute to transparency and accountability, keeping everyone informed and aligned with the project’s goals and requirements. Strategy 4: Mitigating Risks and Challenges Offshore development can present a variety of unique risks and challenges that may impact project success. These can range from navigating cultural differences to managing time zone disparities. It is crucial to anticipate these potential obstacles and proactively establish effective risk management strategies to minimise disruptions and ensure seamless project implementation. Sensitively addressing cultural disparities and fostering understanding, as well as utilising specialised tools and processes designed to bridge time zone gaps, are vital measures in effectively mitigating these challenges. Strategy 5: Nurturing a Strong Partnership Building a strong partnership with your offshore development team is crucial for long-term success in today’s global market. Fostering trust, transparency, and open feedback channels lays the solid foundation for a collaborative and synergistic relationship. This partnership should be continually evaluated and optimised over time to ensure that both parties are aligned in their goals and committed to mutual success. By nurturing this partnership with open communication and a shared vision, you can harness the full potential of your offshore team and achieve outstanding results. Final Words In conclusion, successful offshore development requires careful consideration of the five strategies outlined above. By building the right team, establishing clear objectives, implementing robust communication channels, mitigating risks, and nurturing a strong partnership, you can pave the way for successful offshore development. Embracing these strategies and focusing on building the right approach can lead to fruitful and productive offshore development partnerships. Remember, when it comes to offshore development, strategic planning is the key to success. By following these strategies and incorporating them into your offshore development approach, you can unlock the potential for successful and impactful software development, regardless of geographic boundaries.

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Hiring strategies

Anchoring Innovation: Hiring Strategies for Tech Startups

June 6, 2024

In the fast-moving tech startup world, having access to the right talent is not merely a critical requirement: it is a critical enabler for innovation and success. Tech startups are more agile and innovative via creative problem-solving, which means that every new hire has a large impact on the course of the company. This blog will explore effective hiring strategies, and how to leverage global talent acquisition to anchor innovation in tech startups. Understanding the Unique Needs of Tech Startups Startups in the tech sector frequently focus on inventing brand-new technology, which develops fast; however, it is also high-risk. Therefore, tech startups look for people who not only can do a good job in their particular field of work but are also versatile enough to adapt their talents towards something new and innovative. Therefore, it is important for tech startups to adopt hiring strategies that can boost innovation. Crafting a Compelling Employer Brand Here are some strategies to help you develop a compelling employer brand: Creating an Attractive Employer Brand Showcasing Company Culture Utilizing Social Media and Online Platforms Sourcing Top Talent Talent sourcing should not be neglected by any tech startup in today’s competitive market. Here are some strategies that may help. Networking and Referrals Engaging with Universities and Bootcamps Leveraging Online Job Portals and Communities Onboarding and Retention Strategies Onboarding and retention can be challenging, if not tackled properly. Here are some tips: Leveraging Technology in Hiring Here’s how technology can be seamlessly leveraged throughout your hiring process. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are powerful tools that can significantly streamline your recruitment process. By efficiently organizing applications, tracking candidates, and automating communication, an ATS can save time and effort for your hiring team. This not only leads to a smoother and more organized hiring process but also ensures that no promising candidate slips through the cracks. AI and Machine Learning have revolutionized the way organizations approach candidate matching and evaluation. These advanced technologies have the capability to analyze resumes, extract crucial information, and predict candidate success based on data-driven insights. By leveraging AI and machine learning, you can make more informed and data-backed hiring decisions, ultimately leading to better recruitment outcomes. Virtual Interviews and Remote Hiring The rise of remote work has opened up a world of opportunities for global talent acquisition. With the ability to hire from anywhere in the world, organizations can now tap into a global pool of talent. Virtual interviews and online collaboration tools play a crucial role in facilitating remote hiring. Video interviews provide a convenient way to assess candidates, while online collaboration tools enable seamless communication and interaction with remote team members. Embracing virtual interviews and remote hiring not only expands your talent search but also promotes a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Concluding Thoughts Effective hiring strategies are crucial for tech startups looking to anchor innovation and drive growth. By understanding the unique needs of tech startups, crafting a compelling employer brand, and leveraging modern recruitment tools and strategies, you can attract and retain the best talent. Remember to prioritize diversity and inclusion, and learn from the success stories of other startups.

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The Human Element

The Human Element: Building Strong Relationships in Offshore Teams

June 3, 2024

Offshore software development or offshore IT services have become increasingly viable for several businesses who are seeking to lower costs while accessing the best global talent simultaneously. According to reports by Statista, the global offshore software development market is anticipated to reach a value of $88.9 billion by the year 2027, posting CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 7.9% from 2020 to 2027 along the way. However, proper offshore workforce management is the need of the hour and that is where building stronger relationships becomes a necessity for project managers and other leaders. Here are some insights on harnessing the human element towards relationship building across offshore outsourcing teams. Offshore Project Management and Relationship Building – Vital Tips Here are some tips that will help you ace offshore workforce management, while building relationships that are strong and fulfilling. What Else Can You Focus On for Relationship Building? Now that you have an idea of the bigger picture, i.e. the philosophies that you have to put in place for better intra-team relationships, here’s looking at some of the action-oriented steps that you can take in this regard. Hierarchy of Needs and Why It Matters While following these tips will help you build stronger relationships among offshore teams, you should also lay emphasis on something called the hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s theory shows various levels in a pyramidal framework, with two overall needs, namely Growth Needs and Deficient Needs. Yet, motivation does not work in the same manner for everyone, especially across various levels of the organization. A remote senior software engineer with 10 years of experience may not be motivated in the same way as a junior developer just 1-2 years of experience, for instance. Maslow says that employees should first try to achieve their deficient needs before attempting to fulfill their growth needs. For example, you should first try to help your team members meet deficient needs like proper working hours, inclusivity, respect, tolerance, and job security. Thereafter, bring in measures to address their growth needs before their motivation levels start declining. These include more learning and skill-development opportunities, promotions, and compensation. Signing Off Remember that effective leadership is a lot about strong relationship-building and communication. It can be challenging to manage remote offshore software development teams, especially when you consider relationship-building with developers across multiple locations or even time zones. Yet, proper communication is always helpful in bridging gaps and creating a space for transparency and openness in dialogue, expectations, and collaborations. As the ex-CEO at Cisco, John Chambers, once stated, offshoring was a vital strategy for organizations who wanted to stay more competitive in today’s global economy, helping them leverage a worldwide pool of highly skilled talent and deliver high-quality software at a lower cost. Yet, to make it all work and achieve project end-goals, committed and productive teams are a must. That requires stronger relationships and robust leadership in turn. Keep these strategies in mind to get the best out of your team. Let the defining principles be- all for one and one for all!

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Maintaing employee wellbeing

Practical Strategies for Maintaining Employee Wellbeing in a High-Pressure World

March 8, 2024

Maintaining employee wellbeing at the workplace is of paramount importance. Not only does this prevent unwarranted employee burnout, but also helps in maintaining productivity. In fact, it does not always have to be an expensive affair when it comes to improving the wellbeing of your employees in a high-pressure environment. It can be an excellent investment, as an instance of a work-redesign blueprint at a Fortune 500 firm’s IT division indicated. It generated a positive ROI for the company by lowering turnover costs considerably. Everything from flexible work arrangements to encouraging mindfulness practices and stress management techniques has immense value in terms of boosting employee wellbeing and satisfaction. On that note, here are some practical strategies to help you maintain employee wellbeing in an increasingly competitive and changing world. Strategies to Help Boost Employee Wellbeing at the Workplace How do you increase employee wellbeing at the workplace and prevent employee burnout and other issues like frequent absenteeism, low motivation, reduced productivity, and eventual attrition rate jumps? Here’s how: Companies are now more aware about employee wellbeing being directly connected towards organizational growth and future success. A successful wellbeing blueprint necessitates suitable participation of employees and planning along with commitment on your part for the long haul. Boosting employee wellbeing will lower flagging employee engagement, absenteeism, low morale, productivity issues, and other problems that may snowball into bigger obstacles in the long run. Giving employees more control and ownership of their work and duties is another good strategy in this case while ensuring stable schedules with minimal fluctuations, as much as possible. Giving employees control and responsibility towards identifying and fixing issues at the workplace is also a god move while you should look at adequate staffing and planning to keep workloads at optimal levels. Your employee wellbeing blueprint should encompass physical (diet, sleep, fatigue, activity and fitness sessions), emotional (mental health, work-life balance, mental health awareness), financial (emergency funds and financial programs along with personal finance management), social (interactions, team bonding, picnics and group activities), career (remote work options, higher compensation, wellness initiatives) and purpose-based (syncing of objectives of employees with the company, up-skilling and re-skilling and mentoring programs). FAQs What resources or training programs can organizations provide to help employees manage stress and build resilience? There are several training or resource programs that may be offered by organizations to help their employees manage stress better. These include stress management and mindfulness programs along with resources that help them reach out and ask for help and manage stress better. How do technology and remote work impact employee well-being, and what measures can be taken to mitigate potential negative effects? Technology and remote work will positively impact the wellbeing of employees. It will help them manage their time better and balance workloads accordingly. Mitigating potential negative effects of the same will require a proper monitoring and work management policy on the part of the organization. What are the key components of a successful flexible work policy? A flexible work policy that is successful, will essentially look at aligning jobs and planning innovatively to ensure that employees can work flexibly at their preferred times as much as possible, while having clear deadlines and duties that have to be met. Availability, attendance, guidelines and timelines are some of the core aspects in this case. How can companies measure the success of their employee wellbeing initiatives? Some of the ways to measure the success levels of employee wellbeing initiatives include focus groups and surveys to assess employee satisfaction and engagement levels. Employee participation rates can also be tracked in wellness programs and initiatives. Are there legal considerations or best practices that companies should be aware of when implementing wellbeing programs? Company wellness programs should adhere to ethical guidelines along with data privacy regulations. There should also be adherence to workplace codes and labor standards/acts along with non-discrimination-related guidelines.

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Winning the Inventory Game: Strategies for B&M and E-commerce Fashion Retail

Winning the Inventory Game: Strategies for B&M and E-commerce Fashion Retail

October 11, 2023

Both e-commerce fashion retail and brick-and-mortar players require advanced and efficient inventory management. This not only ensures that they have suitable items in the right volumes when the customer needs them, but also makes sure that they can lower costs, scale sales figures, and boost customer satisfaction levels simultaneously. The inventory management game becomes even more challenging and critical if you consider the fashion sector which is characterized by rapidly changing trends and consumer preferences, along with seasonal movements.  How it Stacks Up for Both Fashion Segments If you take a closer look at the inventory management game for both the brick-and-mortar and e-commerce sectors, these are the insights that emerge.  There are numerous technology solutions today that enable better and smoother inventory management for companies in both these segments. Let us take a look at some of them below.  Tech Solutions for B&M and E-Commerce Players Here are some of the most effective technological solutions that cater to both these categories in the fashion retail space.  Along with these systems, there are several retail technology solutions that are enabling dedicated improvements for fashion retailers across multiple categories. Let us take a closer look at them below.  Retail Technology Solutions for Better Outcomes Here are some of the ways in which cutting-edge retail technology solutions will completely transform the segment in the future.  Predicting future customer preferences will become more viable with advanced AI and ML algorithms along with data analytics. This will enable brands to offer products that customers will appreciate, while balancing sustainability and diversity alike. AI-based pricing strategies will also help scale up sales figures in relation to demand and supply levels. Gauging or sensing market demand with advanced tools will enable companies to take better strategic decisions as well.  Several companies are already working on demand sensing engines and newer demand forecasting methods for retail players. Some companies are also looking at omnichannel solutions for various brands in order to streamline inventory management. RFID should be another major game-changer in the near future, enabling companies to enhance their rates of conversion and boost consumer experiences simultaneously. RFID may enhance the rate of adoption while enabling higher brand security and inventory accuracy alike. These technologies are already being used by leading fashion brands like Zara, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, and Levi Strauss & Co. They are managing inventory better and tracking stocks in real-time while finding products swiftly at the same time. As a pre-requisite for better inventory management, companies are also looking at technological solutions that can streamline their supply chain processes and leverage opportunities through omnichannel businesses. Emerging consumer delivery models like online purchase and store pick-up, shipping from store, curbside order pickup, and same-day delivery are also gaining traction. This will further put the spotlight on efficient and accurate inventory management solutions in future years.  Add to that touch-less POS checkouts (boosting visibility into losses), interactive aspects like NFC tags and QR codes (for enabling special experiences and interactions with consumers), and other emerging trends and you get the picture. Better inventory management is the need of the hour, driven by advanced technological solutions for smoother sales, customer satisfaction, and business growth. Both brick and mortar and e-commerce fashion retailers have embraced these new-age needs with elan and this particular trend should continue for quite some time now. 

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Digital Success Summit 2019: What to Expect

July 18, 2019

A stimulating conference program focused on digital innovation and transformation. Over the years Indus Net has partnered in digital systems with a number of established players. We regularly innovate in Cloud/Data center, AI, Cyber Security, IoT & Mobile Technologies providing organization with the opportunity to keep in pace with global trends. Our Digital Success Summit V2.0 on 8-9 August 2019 with the theme, ‘Growing Digitally, Growing Profitably’ will encompass 7 deep dive workshops on Day 1 and back to back sessions by speakers from around the country on Day 2. Attend Day 1 to gain actionable insights on How to leverage businesses through powerful storytelling with Indranil Chakraborty The need and know hows for digital innovation with Abhishek Rungta How you can leverage content marketing to build your consumer base with Shubho Sengupta Learn the sorceries of social selling with Kiruba Shankar Get your digital marketing right with Aji Issac Mathew How can you use a combination of storytelling, imagery, and testimonials to boost business with Soumitra Paul Learn the best branding practices for your brand sustenance with Laeeq Ali Attend Day 2 to learn from discussions with the likes of Amit Ranjan is Co-Founder of SlideShare, which got acquired by LinkedIn. Since then he has worked with Government of India to build the DigiLocker project, which is used by more than 10 million citizens. Amit has always been passionate about building outstanding products that sell themselves. Learn from him about building virality into the product or service design. A star teen entrepreneur, Atreyam (Leo) Sharma who has been addressing leading technology events globally since 2014, including TEDx talks in India and Luxembourg.He started coding at the age of 11 and the following year, Co-Founded Workshop4Me. Vikas Malpani, a serial entrepreneur who also co-founded, India’s leading property listing platform-CommonFloor.Com. He is ranked as Business World’s India’s Hottest Young Entrepreneur & has won MIT TR35 Young Innovator Award for his growth advices. And hear many others speak on how to make your product or service viral, sales team management hacks, how to build and manage a remote team, consumer marketing on a shoestring budget and about personal branding Why Should You Attend? We are flying in a delegation of 500+ representing 100+ business covering the country, providing your organization with the opportunity to reach an audience including Enterprise CEOs, CIOs, CISOs, MIS / IT Directors PLUS Cloud Operators, Telcos, SPs, etc. Our Summit provide a highly efficient, cost-effective and proven formula for tech industry CEOs and senior execs, to learn through networking in a single location, in just 48 hours.

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Who Are Digital Nomads?

March 14, 2019

Transformation is the thumb rule of nature and so is the new millennial workplace arrangement. If you are aware (or not) of the trend of the hour ‘Digital Nomad’, then we would simplify it more! The term refers to a person whose physical proximity to their workplace is not dependent on their work. They are remotely connected over telecommunications and are technology-dependants. That means, if you are a talented globe trotter, your talent can be of use across the world and not concentrate only on your location! This drove around 50% of the young U.S workforce to ditch the traditional format of working while making it the new modus operandi. Though it originated mainly out of the freelance community, today, it is no more restricted to the start-ups or SMEs but established brands are digesting it well! BUT, how effective is it? Lucile Foroni, Growth Manager at Doist, a complete remote workforce organization states “Remote work’s biggest advantage is the ability to focus. You can focus when you want to do deep work, and check messages or plan a meeting when you need to communicate. No one taps on your shoulder, constantly DMs you because your online indicator is green or calls you at whichever time of the day or night. You’re in control of your attention. Moreover, it adds to the managerial flair as I do not need to micro-manage the team.” Having said so, a dispersed team globally helps you in time management. For example, when one teammate residing in the USA completes a certain work and post which can pass it on to his Canadian teammate who then completes his part of the job. This ‘round the clock and around the world’ approach sets one completely free from unnecessary professional stress. The list doesn’t stop here! According to Forbes Financial Council, around 43% of employers are switching to employing remote workers owing to the cost omission of their office spaces. This allows even a start-up to recruit a diverse talent pool without paying bulk from their raised funds. This is an enabler to improve their productivity and ensure effective cost-cutting. This culture erases the need of renting an official space or even a co-working space allowing effective implementation of their funds in other projects or services. ‘Been there, done that’ If you thought that remote working is not your cup of tea, owing to a much larger workforce management, trust Zapier’s co-founders, Wade Foster and Mike Knoop who feels remote working culture leads to a refined and fast-paced work. “Non-remote work defaults to the highest distraction communication first, which is in-person. Remote work defaults to the lowest, which is no communication and is more on point,” they share. However, fostering trust is one eminent task, mutual responsibility for both the employers and the employees. So, before your boss rings up a bell, you should be more self-disciplined and should be managing your and your teams’ regardless of the locations and time zones. Foster adds, “To match the deadline, one should be ahead of it because emergencies are ought to happen owing to the diverse location and time zones.” Therefore, hiring self-managers could be a winning stroke for your company. However, a distributed team faces time differences, internet connectivity issues to conflicting cross-cultural behaviours to start a spontaneous communication, so how would you increase trust among your teammates? To overcome this barrier of productivity, David Horowitz, Chief Executive Officer, Retrium shares his experience, “Be an intentional communicator because there are no break rooms to break off the work monotony. So, take out time to strike off a genuine conversation and build a healthy bond with your digital nomads.” Zoho, created another success story in creating Zoho Connect, its remote working wing suggesting how to intentionally communicate and what if you fall short of content! First thing first, homogeneity would never let you fall short of communication so one could simply exchange information on their weather, national holidays, swap their music playlist or simply gossip about movies to keep it genuine and smooth. This way, one can find a mental connection to talk beyond work, building trust and loyalty among the multi-cultural workforce. But, what if miscommunication strikes off an important delivery? Being video first avoids a lot of unexpected friction owing to cross-cultural blend. Therefore, sticking to video calls over voice calls would help you to analyse body language and instill a sense of connectivity. On this line, Ricardo Fernandez, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, Prodigy Finance shares his hard learnt experience, “Once, I had congratulated one of my colleague on a voice note stating ‘you’re killing it out there’. To my amazement, he reverts asking what went wrong on his part! Had I relied on a video call, my intention would have been clear.” To sum up, if you are intending to bring in diversity in your organisation in terms of talent acquisition in minimal cost, then think but to re-structure your go-to strategies in hiring and retaining remote workers across the globe. Around the globe in 80 days, err, 80 seconds! According to fresh data from LinkedIn, web design, social media management are amongst the highest growing digital trends. Today, employers are trying to address mental health issues pretty seriously. Accordingly, 21% of remote workers stated loneliness as their primary concern to their shift. If you are an SME, then bridging the cybersecurity concern is an important concern. Approximately, 18% of remote workers reviewed the lack of cybersecurity when working in an SME. Ernst & Young reveals that more than 50% of the global professionals trust their employees; however, this calculation is pretty low for remote workers. Therefore, addressing the trust issue and building a mental connection is an important mandate for all remote employers. With the rapid digitization and Gen-Z coming over the workplace, 2019 would be the perfect year for creating a perfect remote workplace!

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15 Actionable Insights From Our Webinar On Digital Marketing Mistakes in 2018

January 11, 2019

We collaborated with DigitalMarketingUniversity.com to organise an insightful session with Aji Issac Mathew, CEO | Indus Net TechShu on the topic “Mistakes that may have hurt your Digital Marketing Campaigns in 2018”. We listed down 15 actionable insights from the session, these tips will definitely help business owners, marketing managers and even people who are into execution. Visit our Facebook page to get access to the entire session video. You can also take a look at the Aji’s presentation on SlideShare. Tip#1: Businesses need to first define the purpose of hiring a #DigitalMarketing agency before investing.   Tip#2: Don’t judge an agency based on your past working experience with a different agency, dynamics change!   Tip#3: Develop a yearlong roadmap in terms of execution and review every quarter.   Tip#4: Identify people responsible for short and long term success and keep a track on the progress.   Tip#5: Don’t invest all the budget on branding, keep part of it for the follow-up campaign to support sales.   Tip#6: Don’t take decisions based on opinions, it should be backed by competition data, complementary products, markets, trends and customer behaviour.   Tip#7: Keep a track of your marketing campaigns every week and brainstorm with the execution team to optimise it at all levels – design, copy, audience selection, channels and budget.   Tip#8: Team structure is key for the best results in #DigitalMarketing   Tip#9: If you are confused in terms of choosing the right channel. Invest the budget in all primary channels and check where you get the best results. Based on the output, plan the budget accordingly going forward.   Tip#10: Spend time in positioning your product/service for the identified customer segment. While you do this, involve your operations team as they have more insights from the real customer data.   Tip#11: Talk about the vision and what the company stands for in front of the customers. Digital allows you to connect with your customers at every juncture.   Tip#12: Invest in the market/channel which is giving you the best results, however, keep experimenting with other channels and see if tweaking the communication is adding value. Tip#13: Don’t create “global content” for the “local audience”. Develop the messaging based on the need of the customer, also in 2019 focus less on creating fresh content but more on consolidating content.   Tip#14: Facebook is a great platform for B2B lead generation, however combining the behaviour with interest always give good results.   Tip#15: Desktop is more popular when it comes to B2B customers, however for B2C it is observed that more visits come from Mobile. Bonus Tip   Digital Marketing University recently announced a Digital Marketing Strategy course for business owners and marketing professionals in India. If you wish to know more about the outcomes you may expect from the course, click here.

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How Data Influences Media and Marketing Today

September 27, 2018

Market research has always been the basic tool to design and develop strategies and campaigns. However, traditional market research consumes a lot of time and requires special skills to process and analyze and to derive insights. Marketing campaigns in the past weren’t accurate because market samples did not truly represent a population, and both advertising and marketing strategies weren’t quite accurate. Campaign failures and losses can be tied down to incorrect insight or partial insight into a market’s needs and demands. In addition, most marketing agencies depended on print and TV to disperse marketing messages until the recent past. Digital media changed all that and democratized the process of marketing and advertising, while contemporary data techniques have taken digital marketing to the next level. Thankfully, newer data analytics techniques have not only reduced marketers efforts to crunch data but have also ushered in a new era in which marketing campaigns are highly personalized, scalable and democratic. In this article, let us take a look at how data has influenced media and marketing, and how there has been a complete paradigm shift. Integration of tools Software integration has led to richer insights and predictions, as there is a larger sample of data to analyze. Cloud-based solutions have helped companies to implement affordable integration solutions across departments. Integration has also brought together disparate software solutions such as CRM, ERP, and HRMS which help businesses to access more detailed data and predict outcomes accurately even on the go. Current marketing and advertising initiatives depend on such an integrated approach to make the correct move. An increasing number of agencies use MarTech solutions to predict better campaign outcomes, and this is possible because of modern data analytics. MarTech consists of marketing automation tools such as Marketo, HubSpot, MailChimp, SalesForce, and Insightly. It also includes data and intelligence tools such as FullContact, Cloudinary, Decibel, among many others. In addition, predictive analysis tools help us make better predictions and foresee campaigns even before campaigns are launched. This allows us to have defined outcomes in mind. Some of the most important predictive analysis tools used today are Microsoft’s Azure Machine Learning Studio, SAP Predictive Analytics Software, IBM Predictive Insights, among many others.  These tools can be integrated with each other, or with other enterprise software solutions for richer insights. Personalized marketing and advertising Earlier, personalized marketing was a challenge and a number of efforts never yielded the desired results. However, thanks to social media, it is easier to curate customers and people with specific interests and capture their sentiments easily. All this data can now be crunched and analyzed for better insight, leading to highly specific marketing and advertising campaigns. There are a number of marketing automation tools that help you personalize advertising. HubSpot and MailChimp can be used by both small and medium-sized businesses to personalize campaigns, while Marketo is a value addition for larger organizations. All these tools use data to take personalization to the next level. In addition, you can use Google Optimize 360, which helps you create custom segmented customer experiences. Forbes also listed Clearbit, Kickbox, Quickmail, Buzzstream, and other tools in its list of tools that help personalize marketing and advertising. In short, these tools help to gain better insight about customers and market, which helps personalize marketing and ad campaigns even at the micro level. The advent of MarTech and AdTech In the last couple of years, technologies that assist in automating and turbocharging marketing and advertising processes have been given the terms of MarTech and AdTech. Both these technologies have helped thousands of agencies to provide better campaign results, automate most marketing processes, and process data in a useful manner. The advent of MarTech and AdTech has also resulted in marketing Big Data. Various market-related data is constantly added to Big Data, and data analytics continue to derive richer insights. Most importantly, MarTech tools like GetResponse, Autopilot, iContactPro can be integrated with ERP and CRM for more coherent insight. After all, both frontend and backend need to be in sync with marketing campaigns for the message to reach effectively to the right audience. It is important to note that while marketing technology tools can up your data game, it is really up to you how to use the insight your derive. For example, integrating a digital asset management (DAM) with Adobe Creative Cloud can provide insights into how designers influence the marketing process. Or, you can choose to integrate Oracle Eloqua with an ERP like Sage 100 ERP or SAP Business One to better understand how order processing trends can improve future campaigns. Data helps launch hybrid and omnichannel marketing campaigns Most marketing campaigns tend to take a hybrid approach, combining online with offline. A survey conducted by Vistaprint Digital showed that 29% of businesses ignore either offline or online marketing practices, favoring one practice more than the other. However, a hybrid approach that uses both the practices is always more beneficial. Some of the ways you can use data analytics to spur offline marketing success are by analyzing QR code usage, proximity marketing using Bluetooth technology, and tracking URLs and web traffic generated from offline visits to actual stores. Using data analytics to track these behaviors will help to launch more cohesive omnichannel marketing campaigns, which bring an integrated shopping experience to customers. Facebook and Google have come up with tools which help advertisers to understand the effect of online advertising on offline sales. They can predict and track online to offline conversions. Data is here to stay for the long haul As you can see, data tools have changed the game when it comes to marketing and utilizing media tools. While we are no longer reliant on traditional media platforms, and digital platforms have long become mainstream, data analytics has ensured that digital marketing will continue in a forward path in the months to come. All these trends will help agencies to develop and implement marketing and ad campaigns quickly across digital media platforms. Dissemination of marketing communication

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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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