Tag Archives: Business

Covid-19 accelerates digital

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Covid-19 accelerates digital transformation efforts by over five years. Digital transformation in the B2B sector is being fast-tracked to address immediate needs due to the pandemic. With a majority of those surveyed (54%) saying that their customer relations were strained, developing or non-existent. 41% said that selling directly to customers online is the most significant opportunity in the next year. While another 36% wanted to provide their sales teams with the right digital sales tools.

71% of digital leaders also agreed that their company’s digital experiences do not meet their client expectations. This means that consequently, 85% of these leaders expect their digital experience budgets to increase, economic downturn notwithstanding.

Apprehensions around digitisation remain, with 61% of B2B leaders fearing that AI will replace human workers within five years. But, 82% expected AI to make them better at their job in the next two years. Read the full article about how Covid-19 accelerates digital transformation on the YouGov website.

Covid-19 Accelerates Digital Transformation-01

During the pandemic, businesses are turning a negative into a positive. They are looking to streamline their operations and how they do business.

5 reasons how Covid-19 accelerates digital efforts for businesses

1. Enhancing employee collaboration during the COVID-19 outbreak

Remote work has come, and it’s here to stay. Experts and business leaders agree that companies across the globe will keep supporting remote work even after this crisis is done.

This situation where employees are physically separated has completely changed the way our employees collaborate and work together.

The key business impact trigger will be a result of the quarantines, travel restrictions, school closures and sick family members. However, many organizations have already realized that technology can help organizations better adapt to the current changing situation.

2. Ensuring the right flow of information

In times of crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic, your internal communication should be clear, transparent, and easy to understand. What’s more, it is extremely important to be able to reach the right employees at the right time with the right message.

This is the time when employers, leaders and internal communicators should drastically improve their communication efforts.
3. Maintaining employee productivity during the crisis

Most companies have made arrangements to accommodate remote working  already at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Indeed, their priority was to protect their employees and help reduce the spread of the virus.

Businesses are now looking for solutions to maintain employees’ productivity while working from home during the pandemic.

4. Enabling leaders for success

During these times, it is crucial that business leaders and managers demonstrate good leadership skills in order to increase business resilience and prepare for rebound and future growth.

5. Planning for business continuity

Business leaders have to plan for post-pandemic recovery already now. They need to implement the right strategy and tools now to limit damages on their business.

How can LIS help your business?

The benefits of having the right digital tools in place during a crisis such as COVID-19 are obvious and significant. As the way we do business has drastically changed in the last few months. Only the companies that adapt to these changes can succeed.

Contact the LIS Help Desk to discuss your IT support options. Office 365, email, domain names, hosting, security, anti-spam, antivirus and telecoms. Our friendly and knowledgeable team will be happy to assist you.

Digital Trends for 2020

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Digital is changing everything. The way your customers behave. The expectations they set. The speed at which they act. We take a look at the latest digital trends for 2020. You just have to look around you in a café, on the train, on the street… life is going mobile. This is just the start of a whole new era.

Winning in the new digital landscape is all about creating and continually optimizing flawless user experiences. That means staying on top of ever-changing trends. There are a ton of useful stats about internet usage here. Even though we knew it was huge, it’s still surprising to see some of the numbers. Trying to engage with your customers online? Then read this article.

Digital Trends for 2020

The rise of digital is one of the biggest revolutions in human history. It’s often easy to overlook how advanced digital technology has become in recent years, especially when the first mobile phones only got released less than 40 years ago in 1984.

Top five digital trends for 2020 and projections on the horizon

Video Marketing is King

Only 20 years ago, the presence of a camcorder was enough to clear a room. Now? Every person with a monile phone has a video camera. The universal shyness about videos is altogether a behaviour of yesteryear. People love videos and businesses are picking up on it.

In fact, 85% of marketers use video marketing for business, helped 72% of brands increase their conversion rates, according to a study by Wyzowl.

How can you harness the power of videos to market your business? People watch videos to get information and learn. Your first step as a small business marketer is to outline what relevant information you can share that will help your target customer. Then you can start creating compelling, informative videos.

Use Schema Mark-ups and Rich Snippets

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) should be a core component of your marketing strategy. While trends change from year to year, organic search is consistently one of the top drivers of B2B website traffic.

Keyword research, high-quality content, and on-page SEO form the foundation. From there, the projection for 2020 is cantered on schema mark-ups and rich snippets. Focusing on these expands your potential to grow web traffic, increase brand awareness, and convert new visitors into loyal customers. What are they and how can they bolster your marketing efforts?

  • Schema mark-up is a webpage snippet that’s been optimized into a rich snippet.
  • A rich snippet contains all the pertinent details to an optimized page, including images, pricing, ratings, descriptions, etc.

Share Bite-Sized and Informational Content

Just as it’s powerful to share informative videos with your target audience, the same principle applies to other visual content you create. You don’t need to produce Tolstoy-length articles and blog posts to garner credibility and results. In fact, people often favour short, insightful and digestible information. Perfect example? Infographics are educational, concise, and easy to digest.

The Future is A.I., and it Wants to Chat

Artificial Intelligence isn’t a robot in an action film or a digital nucleus overthrowing humanity: it’s simply a dynamic marketing tool that makes managing a small business more efficient. While it’s not as glamorous (or scary!) as in the movies, it’s much more effective. That’s likely why in 2020, 80% of companies will use A.I. to increase sales, according to Single Grain.

The New Facebook Ad Marketing Trend For 2020

Facebook has encountered peaks and valleys, but the platform is still relevant and even necessary for many marketers. Regardless of privacy concerns and other issues, Facebook still has billions of users, and they like to shop. That’s why 67% of social media marketers rely on Facebook as their primary platform.

While it remains an effective strategy, Facebook marketing will change in 2020. Paid ads are a must. Organic reach on Facebook is perhaps 6% of page likes. But with Facebook ads, you have the potential to reach 2.45 billion active monthly users.

There are several ways to use Facebook ads to market your business in 2020, but one of them reigns supreme: Stories ads. Facebook rolled out its Stories feature in March of 2017, and now 500 million users watch Stories every day.

Instead of spending all your budget on newsfeed ads, allocate part of your funds to Facebook Stories ads. Incorporate video in your Stories ads to inspire viewers to take action.

How are we able to help your business?

We do not have a crystal ball and are unable to predict future digital trends for 2020. However, one thing is for sure, the digital age is not going away. Businesses need to compete and make sure they have the latest technology. This will ensure market presence and hopefully increase sales.

Contact the LIS Help Desk to discuss your requirements. Our team will advise you on the most appropriate system for your business. Whether you require, IT equipment and support, software and security, networking or telecoms – we are here to help. Giving you peace of mind to allow you to concentrate on what your good at.

#Digital #Internet #BigNumbers

Proactive IT Providers

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Proactive IT providers can stabilize ever changing client demands, flexible working patterns and compliance issues. Not to mention sudden, disruptive changes to how we all work. Businesses require advanced solutions and strategic IT management.

In these uncertain times our team have gone above and beyond to help our clients. We have implemented, maintained and secured remote working solutions. This feels like an apt time to abandon social etiquette!

Choose the right IT company for your business

We would be interested to hear if your IT provider was proactive or let you down in the COVID-19 crisis. More importantly, were they able to cope with the demand for remote working and have they added any value to your business subsequently?

As staff return to the workplace in the coming weeks many small businesses are looking to restructure their processes and procedures. Therefore, if you feel that you have previously been let down, perhaps now is the perfect time to review matters.

Proactive IT Providers

Keeping business productivity high and downtime low! We pride ourselves on delivering nothing but the very best customer service and solutions to our customers whatever the situation may be.

How can you plan for the future?

Contact the LIS Help desk for a FREE IT AUDIT. Alternatively,  book a 15 minute phone call with one of our experts, for a time that suits you. At LIS we pride ourselves in providing a first-class IT support service, driven by our dedicated friendly team of support professionals.

At LIS we pride ourselves as being  proactive IT providers. Offering a first-class IT support service, driven by our dedicated friendly team of support professionals. Whether you are looking for IT support or telecoms in Essex, our range of managed IT services will cover your every need.

Find out why most small business are not meeting recent guidelines regarding returning to work. Click here to view the support for businesses and self-employed people at the Government website.

Our feelings are that this guidance will have direct implications for your business processes and your IT infrastructure. Take this opportunity to plan and prepare for the new normal. Every business should make every reasonable effort to enable working from home, as their default option.

Protect data from ransomware

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Protect data from ransomware attacks to your systems. You have probably heard of computer malware, however have you heard of ransomware? It’s what criminals use to target the data in your business. Your system and data are crucial to your business. Don’t gamble with your security. Make sure your business is protected from the outside world.

Ransomware is a form of malicious software placed on your devices. It locks you out of your data and it is terrifying. The criminals will then demand cash to unlock your data. Every business  should protect data from ransomware, as it is at risk all the time. Hackers use automated tools to sniff out opportunities.

Our new video has three ways you can protect your business from ransomware.

Hackers can force victims to pay a ransom to regain access. It can infect your computer when you download an innocent-looking email attachment. If you visit a website that secretly executes malicious code. This ultimately encrypts critical files or denies access to the computer. The two main forms of this malware are currently widespread:

  • Blocker ransomware locks users out of basic computer functions. For example, it might deny access to your desktop by partially disabling files the computer uses to boot. You could still use your computer to pay the ransom, but otherwise it would be useless. The good news? Locker malware typically avoids encrypting critical files in favour of simply locking you out, meaning there’s less chance of total data destruction.
  • Crypto ransomware encrypts your critical data — documents, photos, and videos — while leaving more basic computer functions untouched. Crypto creators often include a countdown in their ransom demand. Many users ignore or don’t understand the importance of backing up files to an external storage device, so they often choose to pay the ransom because they can’t see any other way of getting their files back.

How to respond to ransomware attacks

Unfortunately, ransom malware is here to stay. What if you have already become the victim of a ransomware attack? If you’re concerned about ransomware, need to update your security, or need any assistance properly backing up your data, get in touch. Contact The LIS Help Desk today to talk to one of our team to make sure your business is protected.

#ransomware #beware #FreeInfoVideo

Microsoft Teams advice guide

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Unless you have been living on another planet, you have noticed that things have been a little… strange, lately. Covid has changed the way we do pretty much everything. Our Microsoft Teams advice guide will improve how you work. It looks as though it will be some time before things go back to the way they were. If at all.

On the up side, you may have discovered that your business can be more flexible with the way your people work, than you’d imagined. With many people working from home to some extent, remote working has become a viable, permanent option for many organisations. If your people are getting on well with it, what’s not to like?

People can work in a way they’re comfortable with. You could make a big financial saving on office space and travel. As well as giving your people the gift of time, because they no longer have to commute. However, the important thing to always keep in mind is how you’re going to continue to collaborate as a team.

Improve how you work with our Microsoft Teams advice guide

We are going to look at it, step by step, click here to download our latest Microsoft Teams advice guide.

  • How will meetings look if remote working becomes a permanent fixture?
  • What is the best way to keep team motivated and morale up? If your once “all in one place” team don’t see each other from one week to the next?
  • How will documents be shared, added to and refined?

It’s likely that you’ve already looked at some of these potential issues during lockdown. Have you found the best solution for your people? If not, it’s time you looked really closely at Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams has it all when it comes to uniting your business and helping you to get the job done. Make use of our Microsoft Teams advice step by step PDF guide.

Microsoft Teams advice guide

Microsoft Teams, also referred to as simply Teams, is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration.

What is Microsoft Teams?

Teams is Microsoft’s take on chat-based communication for business; Teams is also Microsoft’s answer to competing platforms such as Slack. Slack stock continues to lose value, despite a good revenue flow–analysts cite Microsoft Teams as part of that decrease. In July 2019, Microsoft Teams slid by Slack with 13 million daily users; as of April 2020, Microsoft Teams has 75 million daily active users.

Summary

  • What is Microsoft Teams? A chat and collaboration platform for Microsoft 365 customers designed to simplify group work.
  • How do I use Microsoft Teams? As well as the chat-based communications, Teams’ integration with other Microsoft services allows users access to shared files and calendars, collaborative editing, and easy switching between voice, video, and text chat.
  • Who does Microsoft Teams affect? The service is available to most subscribers to the cloud-based Microsoft 365 suite.
  • When and where is Microsoft Teams available? Microsoft Teams is available to Microsoft 365 customers and supports 93 languages and dialects.
  • How do I get Microsoft Teams? Microsoft Teams is enabled by default for most organizations using Microsoft 365.

Still need help?

There’s a massive help section if you’re ever unsure, and even a training tab full of how-to videos and guides to get you up to speed. Find it in the left corner of Teams.

Really, the new generation of working from home should be full of positives for your business. With the right tools, there should be little disruption to your business and projects. And communicating can become more precise and fruitful.

Give Teams a go and see how it could work for your business. As ever, we’re always on hand should you need any help. Just contact The LIS Help Desk for advice or guidance on this, or any other aspect of your business’s IT and data security.

Our friendly and knowledgeable team have a wealth of experience. Let us be part of your team! Don’t forget to download our FREE Microsoft Teams advice guide.

#MicrosoftTeams #FreeGuide #WorkBetterTogether