Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP is becoming the defacto communication tool for both small and big businesses houses. It is available in a variety of formats, including hosted and cloud and can be tailored to suit the needs of almost any company as the cost advantage of having one phone and data provider is often important. There are four new trends in VoIP technology that are sure to change the industry for the better. They are: 5G technology, VoIP Mobility, CRM Integration and IoT. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/voip-news/4-new-trends-in-voip-technology-78578

A study found that adults in the USA spent 87 hours per month consuming mobile media in the USA and between 50 and 70 hours in European countries, while desktop navigation is done on an average of 30 hours monthly by each user. So, IT specialists and business professionals have developed hybrid optimization. Business must address the needs of their audience effectively; managers and marketers also need to include hybridization in their plans. Discover some more reasons to switch to hybrid optimization at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/scingularity/5-ways-hybrid-apps-will-impact-your-business-78890

Cloud ERP nowadays is helping businesses from retail to manufacturing in developing more complex, agile supply chains that will be able to share information across suppliers and dynamically adjust when manufacturing, shipping or other logistical challenges arise. Cloud-based ERP is making it easier for all parties within the supply chain to get more visibility. It also helps in quality control and traceability. Read more at: : http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/how-cloud-erp-is-improving-supply-chain-management-78881

Storing and managing data is changing every day.  Now, most of the world's data are stored on physical drives. But, in recent years, flash storage and solid-state drives (SSD) have become much more popular. Flash storage has no moving parts and all operations are performed silently and electronically and flash storage offers many benefits to business users, such as: Faster data access, Durable, Reduce Energy Consumption, Portability etc. Read more at: : http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/itmanagement/five-benefits-of-flash-storage-for-the-business-world-78885

 If you are thinking about transiting from your legacy system to ERP system or if you are in the process of implementing it, there are some things you can do to confirm that it works well for your enterprise. They are: identify any problems with your business processes and consider what you can do to improve them before you roll out your ERP system, engage with your key employees, consider On-Premise or cloud-based ERP, Implement ERP through different stages, embrace change management, have a maintenance plan and have a project communication plan. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/7-steps-to-ensure-your-erp-is-a-success-78849

Nowadays, the presence of technology has changed the way we think, communicate and plan events with friends. Today, expansion of the internet broadband connectivity, and variety of software and hardware tools has major changes in our lives. In other words, technology has become a vital part in people’s lives. Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of technologies. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/the-impact-of-technology-on-peoples-social-relationships-78826

Mixed reality or MR is a new technology which is coming up and will soon become a buzz-acronym within the CRM industry. In a nutshell, mixed reality combines the best elements of virtual reality or VR and augmented reality or AR and both AR and VR headsets are expected to flourish in terms of sales over the next five years, but it is expected that the value of these headsets will go beyond their utility with gaming platforms. As the demands on CRM teams to deliver a more personalized service is increasing, the mixed reality technology is being trialed in certain segments of the travel sector as MR can allow staff to match client data to the person they are seeing as part of their day-to-day activities. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/mixed-reality-will-bring-crm-to-the-front-line-of-the-hospitality-market-78818

A recent research found that more than 1 million people will work in co-working spaces in 2017. It is a fact that co-working spaces are beginning to influence how small startups use customer relationship management (CRM) and partnership relationship management (PRM) solutions. Another study found that by 2020, there will be 26,000 co-working spaces with 3.8 million members. CRM vendors are developing niche product that will help facility management and will help them in managing memberships, Guest sign-in to the facility, including integration with your credit card processing system; customer and guest feedback. Read more at: : http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/crm-and-prm-for-the-coworking-generation-78780

Enterprise resource planning can help your company plan, organize, and regulate the flow of information more effectively and efficiently. But, sometimes ERP implementations can leave you frustrating. So, at the beginning of any ERP project, you must consider some prerequisites. These may include: Evaluating current needs and options; Preparing reports for management; Allocating project budget; Creating a shortlist of solutions and obtaining equipment and a location for the project team. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/5-steps-to-a-successful-erp-project-78761

Nowadays, the big changes in the workplace includes the rise of a mobile-first work style, along with ease of use that makes communication very easy. But, it reflects two realities that fundamentally drive the collaboration process. First is the important fact that messaging is easy to use and stems from its consumer roots. The opposite is largely the case for those legacy modes that creates the conditions for an easier to use application i.e. messaging – for collaboration. Read more about workplace collaboration at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/voip-news/workplace-collaboration-comparing-use-cases-for-messaging-and-voip-78744

In today’s world, you must know the importance of securing not only your personal information but also the information obtained from your clients. It is easier for us to create huge files and store an unbelievable amount of information that you can be easily accessed with a simple push of a button. Regrettably, there are many people who target businesses especially small businesses as they tend to leave themselves unprotected. Fortunately, there are some ways to secure personal information by maintaining equipment and adding safeguards to prevent reduce the probability of an operating system or a hard drive error or a hacker from getting to your files. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/it-small-business/protecting-your-personal-and-business-information-78751

Usually, a VPN can be demarcated as a group of computers linked in a web. When you connect to a VPN, the data is encrypted as it allows all the computers on that network to be safe online and get better privacy. Nowadays, many people use a VPN to browse the web without using the local network as it secures their information and encrypt it when using some public network. Business organizations are all online and there is security risk. So, it is important to secure the internet because if the security is breached, valuable business data and your entire organization might be at risk. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/why-modern-businesses-need-a-vpn-78741

Nowadays, Enterprise Resource Planning has become an integral part of the business and ERP vendors are also continuously coming up with less complex and more inexpensive options. The author here explores how the new trends of ERP that can help organizations extract the maximum mileage out of their ERP solutions. They trends are: Cloud ERP, user friendly experience, mobile ERP, flexibility, security, business intelligence and social ERP. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/7-emerging-erp-trends-78717

There are many CRM systems in the market. Each one of them are unique and have minor differences with each other. So, take time to carefully evaluate prospective systems when are choosing any CRM systems and choose a system that is the right size for your business and has the capacity to grow with you.  Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/mistakes-to-avoid-with-crm-78709

While choosing a CRM system, it is important to decide whether you want it to be hosted locally or in the cloud. Both the approaches have their advantages and disadvantages but both offer you with lot of choices. Local CRM can give you more control about everything and offer capital-based payment system. In local CRM, you are responsible for all the maintenance and takes time, effort and expenses. On the other hand, Cloud-based CRM can take most of the administrative load off your organization and tends toward an operating expense method of payment. It can offload most of the administrative effort and maintenance on to the service provider and the overall effort is much less. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/cloud-or-local-choosing-your-crm-system-78708

Nowadays, business value increases when you decide to go for automation. To automate business, you have to create chat bots as it is the core driver. In layman’s term, a chat bot is mode of communication between computers and people to have a meaningful two-way dialog. The chat in chat bot is the interaction that makes you feel like a real conversation, and the bot is the robotic part that makes it clear to the user this is not a person-to-person interaction. The main actions of a chat bot is to manage routine, repeatable task that do not require people at both ends of the connection. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/voip-news/why-chatbots-represent-new-value-for-your-business-78546

Nowadays, the cameras installed are wireless and are linked into the internet, so are part of the IoT.  Each camera has an ID and a default password (‘admin’) which can be changed as soon as the system was installed. Since the camera data is to be displayed and controlled internally, the system is linked into the internal security system, which in turn is linked into the main data servers. Using the external cameras as the entry point, it will not take long for anyone with the right tools to have free access into the main server system. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/datasecurity/getting-serious-about-iot-security-78550

Database is the most important part of your CRM system and is effective only when the entries are correct. But, keeping them correct is a never ending struggle. If not attended, it will slow your database and eventually corrupted. When that happens, the database is of no use. Preventing database corruption is a huge task for everyone who uses the database. Correcting individual database entries does not take long, but it should be done all the time. Automation is the only solution. Many of the misspellings and duplication work can be done by your CRM system or third party software. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/winning-the-clean-data-battle-78542

New markets are ruled through calculated risk, but it is best to avoid it firms whenever possible. Risk signifies lost revenue, disrupted partnerships, idle equipment, brand damage and a host of other effects that are not advantageous to corporations. So, mitigation of risk is important. The less risk, the better. Your ERP system can reduce risk by the following ways: Use Demand-Driven MRP, Automate Reorders and Manual Tasks, Share Supply Buffers with Partners, Beef Up Compliance Management, Boost Risk Management with Predictive Analytics, Improve Decision Making, Keep Better Tabs on Suppliers. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/seven-ways-erp-can-improve-risk-mitigation-78526

Most businesses employ IT specialists. But, the question, is IT dead, or has IT simply taken on another form in order to survive the growing changes in technology? Advantages of having an IT dept. helps in:

·         Maintains the servers, machinery and networks

·         The backbone behind supporting people who use the complex interfaces presented by the above-mentioned machinery.

·         Build and integrate new capabilities on top of that machinery.

Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/scingularity/i-is-for-information-t-is-for-technology-redefining-the-it-trade-78509