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

Business Intelligence or BI is all about the data. The ability to consume data in a systematic format empowers any team to understand their business better. New insights acquired through a BI tool can be used as a spotlight on challenges that was previously difficult to pinpoint. Businesses using BI technology nowadays also understand how to make changes to inefficient processes that result in significant positive impacts to their company’s bottom line. Many projects require additional requirements. One common request is the need for real time data. This is crucial when you are making important business decisions based on the data you are pulling. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/business-intelligence/real-time-data-2015-anytime-data-counts-01937693#GmjO9761ycdido3d.97

Success of any business comes from sales. So, as an entrepreneur, if you want to be successful with your business when it comes to making sales and generate revenue, it is important to pay attention to the following five keys: 1. Find the right product or service to sell, 2.  Listen to customers and clients carefully, 3. use your time efficiently, 4. Find the right team and 5. Review your performance. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/sales-management/5-keys-enhancing-business-sales-01937684#MTZVqqJR0pmA70QR.97

The internet has become an important part of our lives today and has significantly changed our lifestyle by making it easy to it easy to search and find things online. The internet is the sole platform that connects vendors with their prospective customers, thereby enabling a broad range of trade interactions worldwide. Some points that you should remember while doing online shopping are: 1. Avoid using debit card, use virtual credit card, Do not use public Wifi when shopping online, Verify the company’s website security, Check your account statement frequently and use strong passwords. Read more at: : http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/scingularity/5-essential-guidelines-for-secure-online-shopping-78756

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

Effective emails need effective design. The most important part you should remember while designing your emails is that it should support the goals of your email campaign. Here are three most important things you can do while designing emails to make them better support your efforts. They are: Personalize the mail, design messages for mobiles as more people nowadays use smartphones and  ideally emails should be be short enough to be read on one screen. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/punchup-your-emails-with-these-three-ps-78738

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

We are moving towards a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) digital transformation with the introduction of blockchain technology, also known as a digital ledger i.e. distributed database behind cryptocurrency. Several businesses are nowadays adopting blockchain as a trusted system through which to share records with partners. This is where the blockchain enter the enterprise. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/when-erp-meets-blockchain-78538

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

Small, independent insurance agencies must stay competitive by investing in technologies including CRM systems.  Smaller insurance agents are not in a good place due to their lack of leverage to negotiate with large carriers, thereby missing the financial resources to invest in IT upgrades. So, agencies are focusing on their connections with carriers, accounting procedures and the generation of new business. CRM is playing a big role in helping to automate this. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/crm-delivering-a-competitive-edge-for-insurance-agencies-78529

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

Sometimes, small businesses can not accurately manage their cash flow. You do not need to be a finance person to keep your cash flow in order. You can develop a strategy that fits into your schedule and your business model. The following five cash flow management tips that will significantly improve your business’ financial health are: 1. Know your break even point, 2. Streamline your accounts receivable, 3. Maintain a cash reserve, 4. Extend your accounts payable, 5. Identify which expenses are essential for growth and which are not. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/finance/cash-flow-management-tips-small-business-01915621#oDfWZ0ZGTO4YxymO.97