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Tag: Business Solutions

  • Boost Your Customers’ Experience With This Operating Model

    Boost Your Customers’ Experience With This Operating Model

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Customer experience has become one of the top priorities for organizations, especially as an increasing amount of business moves online. The consumers of today shop with one foot in-store and one foot online, but they expect the same experience across both. It’s a tall order but not an impossible one. However, creating a seamless, frictionless journey for your customers won’t be possible if your organization doesn’t have seamless, frictionless teams.

    Adopting an internal Revenue Operations model (RevOps) helps unite your customer-facing teams, so they can focus on providing a singular, cohesive experience to consumers, no matter where or how they buy. The tenants of RevOps are simple: Unite all these teams under the shared goal of revenue through a combination of tools and processes that enable them to work together more effectively. These tools then bleed into improving aspects of the buyer experience.

    Related: Customer Experience Will Determine the Success of Your Company

    1. Shared data improves personalization and consistency

    Employees need to work from the same data to reduce miscommunication and confusion. In a traditional business model, customer data is siloed across different departments. This means that no one can access a complete picture of a customer’s journey and only works with pieces. From a customer’s perspective, this can lead to repetitive or irrelevant interactions that don’t match up with what’s already happened in their buying journey, causing frustration.

    RevOps addresses this issue by condensing all customer information into a shared, accessible source that updates in real-time. A team member can look up a customer and see every interaction they’ve had with the company, whether it’s email messaging from marketing, a demo call with sales or an onboarding question with customer success. It’s all there in one place. Not only does this united data reduce repetitive or nontargeted interactions, but it also provides insight into actions moving forward. It ensures the customer receives an experience that makes them feel more seen and heard.

    2. Improved internal communications remove friction within the customer journey

    Customers being labeled as leads too early or opportunities allowed to go cold are frequent complaints in the discourse between marketing and sales. While there is no way to accurately predict which customers will purchase and which won’t, a lot of the infighting results from different perspectives and approaches to the customer. How marketing qualifies a lead could be different than how sales defines them and vice versa.

    With a RevOps model, teams have increased communication and work under clearly-defined processes. Implementing a RevOps model requires sales and marketing teams to sit down together, share unique perspectives and expertise and map the entire customer journey to agreed-upon terms. The result is that both groups are armed with the same metrics to qualify customers in different parts of the buyer journey, clear next steps on how to proceed and tools that prevent prospects from going cold.

    Related: Aggregate Data to Grasp the Whole Customer Journey

    3. Tools support collaboration and communication across the customer journey

    United teams require connected tools to keep everyone in sync, which is where the tech stack comes in. One of the tenants of a RevOps model is to create a centralized source of data, also known as “a single source of truth.” This is the heart of the RevOps tech stack. By layering tools like data enrichment and business intelligence on top, businesses can maximize the value of their data to create deeper customer profiles, discover new revenue opportunities and derive further actionable insights.

    Customer-facing teams must also evaluate their tech stacks with a RevOps lens, ensuring that all existing solutions support the tenants of connection, communication and collaboration. Integrations are a must; all tools must be able to connect with and pull data from the centralized data source. This requires implementing a common data model so all data can be read and utilized by all other solutions. Marketing and sales automation solutions that run on this shared data equip teams to structure their communications around the revamped customer journey, ensuring consistent communications with customers while enabling businesses to scale.

    Related: Customer Experience: Making it a Priority for Revenue Growth

    While what your customers see and hear during their buying journey is incredibly important, so are the operations behind the curtain that support that experience. If your teams can’t work together as customers move through the sales pipeline, your customer will notice apparent bumps in the road. In addition to investing in the front-end operations and tools of your experience, you must also make the necessary internal investments. Switching to a revenue operations model ensures your teams work as a united front and empowers them with the leadership, processes and tools to do so.

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    Margaret Wise

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  • What Millennials and Gen Z Users Expect from Their Online Experiences — and How to Give It to Them

    What Millennials and Gen Z Users Expect from Their Online Experiences — and How to Give It to Them

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Time is the catalyst to change. Whether it is a push for new standards, a sudden switch in trends or new ideas that pertain to established rhetoric, time is never static. In the UI/UX digital design world, innovation and industry standards are ever-changing, and designers and developers are often seeking new modes of ingenuity to enhance experiences and digital products. With the change in preferences, come new generations of users who are more vocal about the changes and standards they wish to have within a design.

    We are living in an epoch in which our society is saturated in everything digital, thus standing out from the crowd has become a new angle of competitive marketing, and the greatest asset is the newest generations that are attuned to not wasting time on a web design or digital interface that does not propel their experience. Younger generations of users that have grown up with exposure to the online world — millennials or Gen Z users specifically — have higher standards for their online experiences, and ensuring your brand matches their energy with experiential and human-centric digital products is what is allowing companies to have that competitive edge. How then, can brands design their websites, mobile applications and even copy to align with a newer generation of users? Frankly, it begins with paying attention to your target audience.

    Related: Good Design is Good Business

    Convenience is key

    Modern digital ecosystems are made to be quick, convenient and highly usable to boost the overall experience. For newer generations of users, these three features are instantly noticeable, and if it lacks one of the three, that is also highly noticeable, which can sway your users away from a design. The online world has postured many users to expect speed in every digital product they engage with as today’s attention span to these digital experiences is reportedly around 8 seconds. If their interest isn’t captured within that small window, many users will seek an alternative that quells their impatience. Further, the modern user expects any website to be responsive to mobile or tablet, for immediate results on the go. In fact, 55% of worldwide online visits come from mobile, as opposed to 43% that come from desktop interactions.

    Thus, ensuring that your brand’s online presence is made for mobile is a key factor that shouldn’t be placed on the back burner. Modern audiences expect their searches to extend to mobile and be fully usable as they would on a desktop. No matter the services offered, information shared or ecommerce products sold, your website should be highly responsive to any propel conversations and be in tune with modern expectations. If your website caters to an ecommerce platform, ensuring your users are able to browse, shop and check out without interruption is pivotal. Further, ensuring that your visual hierarchy is built for mobile will also seamlessly make an impactful experience. Lastly, certifying that your content — whether visual or readable — is easily digestible and straight to the point is what modern users prefer most.

    The influence of social media

    It’s no secret that the rise of social media has not only greatly shifted our daily interactions but our exposure to new brands as well. Currently, many social media outlets carry themselves as tools to communicate with others. However, as of late, it has an opaque undercurrent of marketing strategies, ecommerce and overall brand recognizability. For newer generations of users, social media is a huge part of their everyday interactions and mode of information sharing. Many established legacy brands have emphasized their presence on social media to drive engagement and brand awareness.

    In fact, 88% of companies have hired at least one social media coordinator because of the opportunities it brings forth and the audiences they are aiming to appeal to. Social media outlets allow for faster communication with modern-day users and for ecommerce purposes. When brands engage with their users on social media platforms, it builds a level of authenticity and trust because of these more casual forms of business-to-consumer communication strategies to answer questions or simply converse about their brand.

    With a whopping 78% of Gen Z users and 67% of Millennial users utilizing social media to discover and learn more about brands, attaining a strong online presence has become just as important as having a website online. Social media has become a portal for brands to utilize these “casual” platforms to boost their sales conversions to newer generations of users. Your website needs to easily have modes for users to find your social media platforms and vice versa. If a brand is discovered through social platforms, it is key that the excitement they felt there carries out to your website.

    Related: The Business of Harnessing the Power of Social Media

    A positive experience in and outside of social media interactions is highly valuable to modern users. It is important to remember, however, that when interacting with users on social media, your social media posts and voice align with your brand. These further drive brand recognizability. Newer generations of users prefer a casual, more playful tone of engagement on social media, and if that does not align with your brand or translate well to your brand testimony off social media, it could affect your brand identity. Your brand’s overall identity needs to remain authentic, approachable and engaging to appeal to the new generational mode of marketing, design and recognizability.

    A sincere push for accessible experiences

    In our own digital design agency, we have always been advocates for pushing usability and accessibility for all users, as it should never be an afterthought. Yet not all websites are created equal. Many brands’ websites still lack full AAA compliance by W3C or do not fully have accessible and inclusive standards for users of all abilities. The modern user, however, is highly perceptive if there is a lack of authenticity when it comes to advocating for full accessibility and inclusivity of users. New generations of users are also much more vocal about disparities in equality and respond better to brands that are authentic and trustworthy — 90% of users, in fact. New users, however, expect these usability practices to be carried out, as opposed to stated in a cover-all blanket statement.

    Related: Inclusion and Accessibility in the Digital Space

    To ensure your digital product is usable to all audiences and highly inclusive, and you practice what you preach, incorporating accessibility tools to your online presence can begin with embedding plug-ins such as AccessiBe or ReciteMe, researching color contrast standards, alt-text and more to be fully inclusive. Inclusivity within copy content is also important to make all demographics of users feel welcomed and represented.

    New generations of users are always going to challenge the status quo and disrupt the established norms for the better, and this has become highly evident in the digital design world. Designing and catering for users should be experimental, usable and modern to align with the times and the audience.

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    Goran Paun

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  • David Zhao of Chubby Cattle on Sacrificing Everything To Succeed

    David Zhao of Chubby Cattle on Sacrificing Everything To Succeed

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    Takeaways

    Restaurants are More than Food – Restaurant owners can attest to the difficulty of operating a successful restaurant. Starting at a young age has afforded David Zhao the opportunity to learn the nuances of what actually makes a restaurant work.

    Aligned Visions in Partnership – The pandemic in 2020 brought about some dark days in business for David Zhao and his partner Haibin Yang. However, being aligned in their vision was a key factor in them taking unconventional measures to stay afloat and progress the business.

    Everyone Should Create Content – David Zhao is not an social media influencer in the sense that many think when they hear the word. Meaning, he doesn’t get paid from brands to create content. However, he ensures that his brand and content is helpful by telling his personal story and the story of Chubby Cattle online regularly.

    ***

    Entrepreneur David Zhao of NXT Group and NXTFactor has a portfolio that includes Chubby Cattle, X-Pot, and an organization that battles Cyber Bullying.

    Leaning into his entrepreneurial penchant from a very early age, David Zhao and his partner, Haibin Yang, were both named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink list for 2022.

    “The pair are elevating traditional Chinese hot pot with technologies including robotic servers and bussers, as well as high-end laser projectors to project custom media for every dish onto customers’ tables,” Forbes wrote about the David Zhao and Haibin Yang. “Chubby Cattle has scaled to five locations across the US, raised $28 million, and is on track to see $20 million in revenue this year.”

    Zhao’s endeavors have taken off in recent years, but it didn’t begin that way.

    After opening the first Chubby Cattle restaurant in Las Vegas 2013, just a few years removed from high school, he and Yang endured three years of no salary prior to creating a profitable business.

    “Ninety percent of restaurants fail within the first few years. And it’s because people think when you create a restaurant, it’s all about creating good food, right? You have good food and you like the taste and that’s it,” explains David Zhao to podcast host Shawn P. Walchef of CaliBBQ Media.

    “You have to be an expert in all of these aspects in order to have an edge in the restaurant space, to be profitable and to be scalable.”

    No lessons learned from experience would prepare Zhao, or any business owner, for the ramifications of the 2020 pandemic. During the public health related shut downs, Zhao had to halt expansion plans as the entire city of Las Vegas was placed on restrictions.

    However, the perseverance that got them through the first three years of business helped align their vision to the point that the businessmen both agreed to sell their houses and cars to fund the delayed projects.

    “We’re ready to go all in for the projects any given time.”

    “I think, one thing that’s key is also to our success is that a partner I have the same vision, like we’re willing to sell everything right now if it’s a new project”, says David Zhao. “If the company needs it and we need it, we would sell whatever we have to make sure that we continue through.”

    That Mamba Mentality and unwillingness to cave is what gave David Zhao the momentum to continue building his business from a teenage freelancer writing reviews for Asian restaurants, to an entrepreneur, activist, and investor with a growing $100 Million Dollar Restaurant Brand. The future is bright for Zhao.

    ***

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    Shawn P. Walchef

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  • Here’s What Really Builds Customer Loyalty in the B2B Industry

    Here’s What Really Builds Customer Loyalty in the B2B Industry

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    During the past couple of years, we’ve all had a front-row seat at the B2B digital transformation, and it has become clear that great B2B ecommerce buying experiences don’t just happen. They require a strategic investment of time and money — and an understanding of the psychological drivers that create experience loyalty in business buyers.

    While experience loyalty has been around the B2C world for decades, the B2B industry is now catching on that delighting customers doesn’t build loyalty. Instead, reducing buyer effort, or the work a buyer must do to get their problems solved, does. For today’s B2B customers, the “problem” that needs to be solved starts with the first purchase: Is it easy to start doing business with your company?

    Related: The Convergence of B2B and B2C: How to Create Epic Experiences in an Experience-driven Economy

    Over half of B2B buyers have switched all suppliers in one year

    Most B2B companies earn a large share of their revenue from ongoing sales to existing customers, making customer retention an important B2B business priority. As human encounters are replaced with digital ones, sellers are challenged to find new ways to keep clients sticky when the competition is just a click away.

    In 2021, 55% of US-based respondents in a global survey said they had switched suppliers for all business purchases in the 12 months preceding the survey. Another 41% said they had switched some suppliers for some business purchases. With nine of 10 respondents switching vendors, one can only conclude that great B2B buying experiences are not happening and likely falling further behind as the digital age progresses. Only a year earlier, in 2020, the comparable percentages were 20% for all purchases and 43% for some purchases.

    Although 2022 numbers aren’t out yet, it’s safe to assume that B2B buyers continue to have rising expectations based on their B2C ecommerce habits. That’s why B2B leaders need to understand that today’s key differentiator is their company’s ability to deliver the best possible B2B customer experience.

    Customer effort matters much more than delight

    Gartner has extensively studied experience loyalty, evaluating whether customer satisfaction can accurately predict future loyalty. Although counterintuitive, their conclusion is “no.” The data revealed that 20% of customers who reported that they were “satisfied” also expressed an intention to buy from someone else. And the delight strategy fares no better: “There was virtually no difference between the loyalty of customers whose expectations were exceeded and those whose expectations were simply met,” the report states. Instead, the true driver of customer loyalty is the amount of effort customers must use to resolve a problem: 96% of customers who had a high-effort experience reported being disloyal compared with 9% with low-effort experiences.

    As business leaders, we don’t want our customers to have problems with our products or services. But it doesn’t take a “big” problem to give a customer the feeling that a company is hard to do business with. Gartner identifies the key sources of customer effort as:

    It’s more likely that a “simple” customer request can reveal whether it’s genuinely easy to do business with your company.

    Related: 12 Golden Rules for Customer Experience Strategy

    B2B payments are complex, but the buying experience can be simple

    In evaluating today’s B2B customer journey, many B2B buyers find the purchase process complicated and time-consuming. It can be hard to select a supplier, and once chosen, the onboarding process can take days (or even weeks, in some industries) adding immense friction at the very beginning of the customer experience. This segment of the customer journey has historically been a manual and paper-based system. In my experience, many companies “digitize” payments by adding online forms, which does not improve or accelerate the manual underpinnings.

    Today’s buyers have much higher expectations and expect B2B ecommerce to be fully automated, instantly responsive and mobile-friendly. Furthermore, corporate customers increasingly want more self-service account options, which require robust portals or apps that allow them to access invoices, make payments, manage disputes and more in just a few clicks.

    Better B2B payments can remove a majority of the friction

    Today, business growth will likely include new digital channels, such as ecommerce, marketplaces and more. And although B2B customers enjoy these new channels, they want to continue purchasing the way they always have, with contracts, purchase orders (POs) and invoices. Why? Because contracts often include special pricing and other negotiated terms, and the POs and invoices are required to manage enterprise expenses.

    That’s why digital channels designed to offer a great B2B customer experience must include all the complexity required by buyers and their organizations. The key is that the complicated plumbing must sit behind a sleek, easy checkout experience.

    The good news is that the days of building these digital solutions in-house are long gone. Instead, B2B merchants can choose to join an existing B2B payments and invoicing network that is purpose-built to reduce many of the challenges organizations encounter as they strive to enhance experience loyalty. These proven B2B payments providers can provide:

    • Real-time trade credit decisioning in moments, not days, that keep prospective buyers engaged when they have decided to purchase

    • Right-sized corporate trade credit accounts

    • Automated accounts receivable to support new customer acquisition and onboarding

    • Digital invoices in formats that are easy for enterprise systems to digest

    • Fraud detection and mitigation during trade credit decisioning

    Related: The Ultimate Secret of Building a Loyal Customer Base

    A modern B2B payment process can create experience loyalty

    It’s the new reality: Most B2B buyers don’t want help during “the sales process” unless they ask for it. Instead of relying on salespeople to build sticky relationships, companies must grow customer loyalty in other ways. Investing in an easier payments experience is an excellent place to start.

    Many companies view their online payment experience as merely mechanical — it either works or not — and in the past, they were largely correct. But like it or not, today’s digital world is very different. With a world of merchants at their fingertips, buyers know they have choices and are quick to take their business elsewhere. That’s why suppliers that create a customer-centric checkout, designed to give B2B buyers an experience that is neither complicated nor time-consuming, can gain a significant competitive edge. According to McKinsey, B2B companies that transformed their customer experiences saw 10 to 15% revenue growth, higher client satisfaction scores, improved employee satisfaction and a 10-20% reduction in operational costs.

    Companies of all sizes can use this type of technology to their strategic advantage where loyalty-building B2B payments experiences are just a few APIs away. A comprehensive payments solution can significantly reduce the friction that new buyers encounter. Investing in a low-effort onboarding process can create a memorable relationship starter, build experience loyalty and differentiate your company — all the result of strategically investing time and money to create a great B2B ecommerce experience.

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    Brandon Spear

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  • 3 Ways Consumers are Driving Change in Retail Logistics for 2023

    3 Ways Consumers are Driving Change in Retail Logistics for 2023

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Consumers are increasingly exhibiting preferences for ethical products, transparency, sustainable practices, personalization, convenience and digitization — and it’s driving big changes across the retail industry as brands take note and adapt.

    Across the board, consumer expectations are raising the bar for retailers. This leaves leaders with two choices: hesitate, reach a tipping point and be forced to pivot (and risk losing customers along the way), or stay in sync with consumers and make impactful operational changes now.

    On the logistics front, here are three ways retailers can embrace consumer cues on sustainability, transparency and customer service in 2023 and beyond:

    1. Sustainable shipping

    Consumers have come to expect environmental responsibility from the brands they shop. Across generations, consumers are even willing to pay more for sustainable products. In fact, 90% of Gen Z consumers said they are inclined to spend an extra 10% on sustainable options.

    Yet, despite this number being up from just over 34% two years prior, two-thirds of retail executives believe consumers wouldn’t pay more for sustainable products. Disconnects such as this present an opportunity for retailers to listen to what consumers are saying about the importance of sustainability and take action.

    For starters, consumers are growing mindful of the long-term impacts of their purchasing decisions, especially in this era of ecommerce and next-day offerings that increase delivery vehicle traffic, carbon emissions and packaging. According to Forrester, some 68% of highly empowered consumers plan to increase their efforts to identify brands that reduce their environmental impact, and 61% seek out energy-efficient labels when shopping.

    With retail supply chains responsible for roughly 25% of global emissions, brands have an opportunity to share in consumer values and adopt environmentally sound practices at every stage in their supply chain. This spans sourcing renewable or recycled materials, utilizing clean energy sources, adopting reusable bags and committing to sustainable last-mile deliveries.

    Take the Montreal-based sustainable fashion brand, Frank And Oak, for example. The company recently partnered with a sustainability-minded third-party logistics (3PL) provider to move its warehousing closer to its customers and offer shoppers carbon-neutral, same-day and next-day deliveries. Across major Canadian and U.S. markets, shoppers’ packages will be delivered via electric vehicles, and where EV deliveries aren’t possible, carbon offsets will be calculated and bought.

    Port to porch, retailers can execute greener shipping practices with 3PL providers that align their services with both brand and consumer sustainability goals.

    2. Increased transparency

    Increased transparency, such as from where materials are sourced to the environmental and actual costs of making products, helps shoppers decide whether to click “purchase” or not. The American clothing retailer, Everlane, calls this high level of visibility “radical transparency.” Founded on the mission of selling clothing with transparent pricing, Everlane reveals the true costs behind producing all of its products and provides insight into its sustainability initiatives and conscientious business practices across its operations.

    Consumers are now accustomed to this degree of transparency, and it goes beyond clicking “buy.” Once they’ve placed an online order, shoppers want to know exactly where their order is and when it will arrive at their doorstep.

    Within logistics, retailers can deliver complete transparency of their fulfillment and delivery operations. Tech-enabled 3PLs give retailers the ability to track thousands of SKUs housed, packed and shipped from centralized warehouses, then grant consumers access to in-depth order tracking right up until the minute their order is delivered.

    3. Better customer service

    Consumers are vocal about their experiences — especially when it comes to deliveries —and share their opinions by posting reviews, tagging brands on social media and flexing their spending muscle.

    Nearly 80% of U.S. consumers say speed, convenience, friendly service and knowledgeable help are key to a positive customer service experience. In fact, 32% of global consumers would walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience.

    When retailers partner with a 3PL that supports every facet of their inventory, warehousing, order fulfillment, delivery and returns, companies remain in control of their entire logistics operation. And with so many pain points along the fulfillment journey where issues can arise, retailers need supply-chain partners with brand knowledge who can offer quick issue resolution at every step. By partnering with a 3PL that manages its end-to-end logistics, retailers can effectively deliver seamless customer service experiences from the time an order is placed to when it arrives at a consumer’s door.

    Consumers have always been powerful agents of progress. In response to the pandemic, supply chain issues and climate change, consumer needs and desires have shifted. Retailers would be wise to meet consumers where they are and embrace change, especially around sustainability, transparency and customer service.

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    Mark Ang

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  • How to Find Inspiration Everywhere

    How to Find Inspiration Everywhere

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Just like lightning strikes at random, so does the opportunity for inspiration that can spur your business or further your leadership skills. Whether you are actively seeking it or taking a break to reset your mind, there are always opportunities to revisit what you have experienced and glean insightful takeaways. For example, one of the best pieces of inspiration came from a simple conversation with my 9-year-old daughter. More on that later…

    If you are actively seeking opportunities for inspiration, here are some particular ones that have inspired me as a co-founder and CEO.

    Related: 22 Successful Entrepreneurs Share What Inspires Them to Keep Going

    Books

    As an avid reader, I have found a lot of inspiration from books. When you’re in a leadership role, absorbing ideas from others not only opens your perspective and inspires you to change the way you work but can also reinforce your intuition and validate your initial thoughts. Some of the standout books that I have read include:

    • The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz — a must-read for emerging and veteran entrepreneurs, this book candidly discusses the pros and cons of running your own business and key lessons every CEO should learn.  
    • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson — this book helps you identify what matters to you. As your company grows, what is the most important to your business, and where can you make an impact? If you stay true to those two values, it helps you filter out the rest of the noise and remain focused on succeeding and bringing your business to fruition.
    • The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle — another book on culture, as it is vital to a company’s overall success — especially in the current market that we are in today. This engaging book inspires us to transform how teams operate so they can perform together more efficiently.

    Related: 3 Books That Will Make You 6 Figures  

    Movies

    Sometimes you’ll find that inspiration comes when you take the time to unwind. Recently, I sat down to watch some TV with my family, and two documentaries we watched have stayed with me:

    • All or Nothing: Arsenal (available on Amazon TV): Aside from being entertaining as it is all about my favorite sport, soccer, watching Mikel Arteta’s leadership in bringing his team to the front of the Premier League was inspiring. Mikel doesn’t compromise on his or the club’s values, and his passion for the sport inspires his squad to perform at the next level. As leaders, we should all proudly showcase our love for what we do to lead by example and inspire our teams.
    • Kiss the Ground (available on Netflix): This documentary, centered on finding a solution for our climate crisis, uses compelling data to illustrate how a simple solution — dating back hundreds of years — can help address our climate crisis and create healthier food for people. My takeaway from this as an entrepreneur was three-fold: first, there are always opportunities to evolve and rethink the status quo to devise a solution to a problem. Second, look back to history to see what was successful and why. Lastly, look at the larger picture to ask yourself: what impact are we making on humanity and this planet?

    Related: How to Get Over a Burnout and Find Inspiration Again

    Other

    My final note of a place I found unexpected inspiration came from my daughter, who was nine at the time. This image had come up during the workday, and I was looking at it at home and contemplating the correct answer. As it illustrates, are there four bars, or are there three?

    She took one look at it and said that both characters in this image were right without hesitating. The answer isn’t about who is right or wrong but their perspective and how they interpret it. That simple revelation from her has stuck with me throughout the years: my main takeaway was that communication is essential and, in life and business, many scenarios are not “right or wrong” — the important thing is that even if you disagree with them, listen to the other’s reasoning to come to an understanding of their point of view.

    At the end of the day, whether you actively seek it or take a break from the hustle of life and enjoy the moment, you can find inspiration everywhere. Take a moment to reflect upon the content you consume or the conversations you have had, and you will become a more well-rounded character.

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    Jurgi Camblong

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  • How to Build on Your Digital Marketing Momentum in 2023

    How to Build on Your Digital Marketing Momentum in 2023

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I’ve been in the digital marketing game since the AOL days — before even Google and certainly long before Snapchat and TikTok were ever a thing. As I’ve seen the landscape change over the years, I’ve developed some pretty good foresight into where the industry is headed in the future. For the past two decades, my job has been to predict where digital marketing is headed and to get there before my competitors do.

    As a digital marketing entrepreneur, you’ve always got to be looking ahead. Until 2026, the compound annual growth rate of the online marketing industry is 9%. Therefore, you’ve got to think in the long term if you want to succeed in a market that’s getting more crowded every year.

    Now that 2023 is visible on the horizon, let’s go over the top industry trends that I think you’ve got to be on top of if you want to stand out in tomorrow’s digital marketing space:

    Related: 5 Digital Marketing Trends to Know for the Decade

    GPT-4 and the rise of “smart” chatbots

    When Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) was released in 2020 by Silicon Valley-based OpenAI, its capacity to create human-like natural language shocked the world. As the most sophisticated AI language model in the world, GPT-3 is capable of writing convincing poetry, prose and dialogue using just a basic user prompt.

    In 2023, we could see the long-awaited GPT-4 released. Although AI-based language processing has come a long way in recent years, there are still some hiccups. Chatbots that are powered by GPT-3 still don’t pass the Turing test, and many consumers loathe having their support queries handled by a bot.

    With GPT-4 on the horizon, chatbots are about to see a quantum leap in their development. Once chatbots can produce language indistinguishable from humans — with all our emotional nuance and subtle interpretations — chatbots are going to take over. We may even see GPT-4 chatbots replace human support agents altogether. Savvy entrepreneurs will keep their eye on new chatbot developments based on GPT-4 and embrace them when the time comes.

    Hyper-personalization

    In Dale Carnegie’s 1936 classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he wrote that a person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language. He wasn’t wrong. We naturally love to be addressed by name, as doing so is dignifying and a marker of respect.

    Our marketing campaigns should reflect this tendency. Emails and SMS that don’t include your lead’s name are a major no-go. As third-party cookies are being cracked down on in 2022 and likely will continue to be in the future, it’s important to ask for your lead’s name and other identifiable information when they sign up. Cookies are slowly becoming a thing of the past, so collecting personalized user data is something you will have to do increasingly on your own.

    Related: 4 Marketing Personalization Tips for Digital Businesses

    More mobile-first visuals

    Who doesn’t love stunning visual content, such as infographics, reels and informative videos? For many of us, this is how we prefer to learn, rather than through long walls of text (no, the irony here is not lost on me). I suggest ramping up your visual content production if you want to compete in 2023’s information space, and more generally, in a world with increasingly shorter attention spans — currently at about only 8.25 seconds.

    Optimizing your visual content for mobile devices should always be top of mind. Desktop visual production should be an afterthought. These days, the clear majority (nearly 54%) of web traffic comes from mobile devices, and this percentage will increase in 2023. Therefore, I suggest keeping vertical, mobile-friendly visuals at the top of your content schedule.

    Clips, reels and videos

    While we’re on the topic of visuals, we can’t ignore the enormous influence that TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have had on the industry in recent years. With TikTok nearly doubling its monthly users in 2022 to almost two billion, it’s likely that its influence is only going to continue to climb in the year ahead.

    Creating short, vertical video content in the 30-second to 3-minute range is ideal. Long video content has its place on YouTube, but to unlock the true viral potential of your videos, it’s best to shorten them and make them mobile-optimized. The more short vertical videos you produce, the greater the chances of going viral and having your content shared widely.

    Up the interactivity

    Social media marketing should remain at the center of your marketing strategy in 2023. However, our feeds are already flooded with promoted content. Instead of a simple 4×3 image post, create more interactive content that ropes your audience in with a question. For example, I recommend using the following Instagram features in your Story content:

    • Polls

    • “Ask a Question” widgets

    • Quizzes

    • Rating sliders

    There’s something about interacting with a brand that’s much more powerful than simply passively viewing its content. Including interactive Story content in your social media campaigns is a highly effective way to gain engagement and to keep your audience glued to your brand.

    Related: 7 Tools That Make Interactive Content Creation Easy

    Keep the momentum rolling in 2023

    As we head into the new year, let’s not squander all the progress we made in 2022. Instead, let’s keep moving forward by honing in on the digital market trends of tomorrow. Specifically, I recommend keeping a close eye on AI developments such as GPT-4, collecting more precise personalized user data, creating mobile-first content (and especially short video content) and incorporating interactive media into your content strategy.

    If you can stay abreast of these trends in the coming year, you’ll be better positioned than many of your competitors. As the industry continues to balloon year over year, staying on top of these trends will become less of an option and more of a necessity if you want to stay afloat — so, what better time to start than now?

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    Amine Rahal

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  • 3 Strategies to Reach Customers in an Economic Downturn

    3 Strategies to Reach Customers in an Economic Downturn

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A recessionary environment can be a make-or-break time for businesses. Some of today’s most successful companies were founded during recessions, such as Google during the dot-com bust of the early 2000s or Uber during the Great Recession of 2008. But for every company that thrives during a recession, there are many more that fail.

    One of the key reasons that some companies succeed while others falter is how they handle their marketing and advertising spend during these difficult times. When a recession hits, businesses are quick to cut marketing budgets as they seek to reduce costs. But this can be a mistake.

    Recessions provide opportunities for businesses to reach customers who may be more price-sensitive and receptive to new offers. Instead of cutting marketing spend, businesses should focus on reallocating their ad budgets to more efficient channels and developing interactive content that will capture the attention of customers who may be spending more time at home. Here are three ways businesses can reach and engage customers despite a market slowdown:

    Related: 6 Recession-Proof Business Marketing Strategies

    1. Develop interactive content

    Customers are spending more time than ever online, so it’s important to develop content that is interactive and engaging. In a recession, ROI becomes even more important, so businesses should focus on creating content that will drive leads and sales.

    Traditional paid advertising can be expensive and is subject to banner blindness, which is when users tune out online ads. Interactive content, such as quizzes, polls and surveys, can be a more effective and cost-efficient way to reach and engage customers.

    Instead of non-consensually slapping users in the face with a commercial message, interactive content allows businesses to provide valuable information or entertainment while also gathering data that can be used to improve marketing campaigns.

    For example, a fashion company might run a style quiz that helps users find the right clothing for their body type. Not only is this quiz interactive and fun, but it also provides the company with valuable data about its customers’ preferences.

    2. Target recession-proof industries

    A recession doesn’t impact all sectors equally. In fact, some industries have seen tremendous growth. The energy industry, for instance, has seen a resurgence as renewed consumer demand and limited oil supply have led to higher prices. Year-to-date, as the S&P500 has fallen by around 15%, the United States Oil ETF is up over 30%.

    Healthcare is another industry that is relatively resilient to economic downturns. As people age, they require more medical care, and government spending on healthcare tends to increase during periods of economic hardship.

    Other so-called “defensive” industries, such as food and beverage, household staples and personal care, also tend to do well during recessions.

    Businesses that target these recession-proof industries can still find success even when the economy is struggling. That isn’t to say that your business needs to be in one of these industries to survive a recession, but it may be worth researching how your product or service can be positioned to appeal to these industries.

    Related: Why You Should Never Skimp on Brand Marketing in a Recession

    3. Focus on ROI-positive marketing channels

    When businesses are cutting costs, they often reduce their marketing spend across the board. But not all marketing channels are created equal. Some, such as paid search and social media advertising, can be very effective in driving leads and sales but can also be expensive.

    Other marketing channels, such as email marketing and content marketing, can be less expensive and just as effective in reaching and engaging customers. In a recession, businesses should focus on allocating their marketing budgets to the channels that will provide the most ROI.

    Email marketing, for example, can be very effective in reaching potential customers who may be interested in your product or service but may not be actively searching for it. And because email is a permission-based channel, you’re more likely to reach people who are receptive to your message.

    Content marketing can also be an effective way to reach and engage customers. By creating high-quality, informative content, businesses can attract customers who are looking for answers to their questions or solutions to their problems.

    In a recessionary environment, it’s more important than ever to focus on ROI-positive marketing channels. By allocating your marketing budget wisely, you can still reach and engage customers despite a slowdown in the economy.

    With the right approach, a recession can be an opportunity for businesses to thrive. By focusing on interactive content, targeting recession-proof industries and allocating your marketing budget to ROI-positive channels, you can weather the economic storm and come out ahead.

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    Vlad Gozman

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  • The Ultimate Guide to Succeeding With Marketing Analytics

    The Ultimate Guide to Succeeding With Marketing Analytics

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of how to succeed in marketing analytics, as the field is constantly evolving, and the best practices for success are always changing. However, some essential tips can help you get started on the right foot and set you up for success in this exciting and ever-changing field. In this ultimate guide, we’ll define marketing analytics, review the different types of marketing analytics, discuss how to use marketing analytics to improve your business, explain what data/tools you need to succeed, and ultimately, learn how to use marketing analytics effectively.

    So, what is marketing analytics? The process consists of measuring, managing and analyzing marketing performance to optimize marketing campaigns and improve ROI. Marketing analytics can track any marketing metric, including brand awareness, website traffic, conversion rates, lead generation and sales. To succeed in marketing analytics, you must have a strong understanding of data analysis and interpretation. You also need to be able to use data-driven insights to improve your marketing strategy.

    Related: 5 of the Easiest Ways to Make Data an Integral Part of Your Business’ Digital Marketing

    The different types of marketing analytics

    There are many different types of marketing analytics, each with its advantages and disadvantages. Here is a brief overview of some of the most commonly used types:

    1. Descriptive analytics: This type of analytics focuses on understanding what has happened in the past. It can be used to identify trends and patterns and to understand why certain events occurred. However, it cannot be used to predict future events.

    2. Predictive analytics: This type of analytics uses past data to predict future events. It can identify potential risks and opportunities and decide where to allocate resources.

    3. Prescriptive analytics: This type of analytics goes beyond prediction and prescribes actions that should be taken to achieve specific goals. It can be used to optimize marketing campaigns and automate decision-making processes.

    4. Social media analytics: This type of analytics analyzes social media data to understand customer sentiment and behavior. It can be used to improve customer service and to create targeted marketing campaigns.

    5. Web analytics: This type of analytics analyzes website data to understand how users interact. It can be used to improve website design and to identify which marketing campaigns are most effective.

    How to use marketing analytics to improve your business

    Marketing analytics can help you understand how your customers respond to your marketing campaigns and identify areas where you need to adjust your strategy. It can also help you track the progress of your marketing efforts over time to see whether they’re achieving their goals. There are a few things that you need to take into account when using marketing analytics:

    • It’s best to understand your customers’ needs and wants clearly.

    • You need to know what kind of message will most likely reach them and why.

    • You’ll want to track which elements of your campaign are working best and which ones aren’t.

    • You need to determine what changes (if any) you should make to improve results.

    • You need to be able to act on the findings promptly so that you don’t lose momentum or hit a plateau in your campaign.

    Overall, marketing analytics is essential for any business looking to improve its performance. Using this information, you can better target your marketing campaigns and boost sales figures accordingly.

    Related: 5 Analytics Tools to Supercharge Your Marketing Strategy

    Types of data you need to track in order to succeed with marketing analytics

    Before you can start tracking your marketing data, you need to know what kind of data you need to collect. There are a few different types of data that are essential for effective marketing analytics:

    • Demographic data: This includes information about your customers’ age, sex, income, etc. Understanding your target audience and creating tailored campaigns that appeal to them is essential.

    • Qualitative data: Qualitative research captures user feedback and opinion to better understand customer attitudes and preferences. This information is especially useful in creating new products or services.

    • Quantitative data: Quantitative research measures the performance of your campaigns using numerical measurements like clicks or conversions. This information can improve your campaigns and help you make informed decisions about the best ones.

    You can track this data in several ways, but the most reliable method is using a tool like Google Analytics or Mixpanel. These tools allow you to easily collect and store all your data in one place to access it whenever you need it.

    The tools and software that can help you achieve your goals with marketing analytics

    If you’re new to marketing analytics, the first step is to determine your needs. Are you looking for insights into how your campaigns are performing? Do you want to track customer behavior over time? Are you looking for ways to optimize your content or advertising? Once you know what you need, the next step is to find the right tool or software for the job. There are several different options available, and choosing the one that will fit your specific needs is essential.

    Some popular marketing analytics tools include reporting tools like Google Analytics and ClickStream, web tracking tools like CrazyEgg, social media analysis platforms like Mixpanel and email tracking tools like GetResponse. There’s also a wealth of software specifically designed for marketing professionals, such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud and HubSpot CRM. However, it’s important to note that not all of these programs are perfect for every business; testing out different options is essential to see which one suits your needs best.

    Related: To Better Understand Your Users, Learn About These 4 Categories of Marketing Analytics Tools

    Tips for using marketing analytics effectively

    Here are a few tips for using marketing analytics effectively:

    • Measure everything: Start by measuring the most important things to you, and then add more metrics as you realize how valuable they are. By tracking multiple channels and data points, you’ll get a complete picture of how your campaigns are performing.

    • Use data visualization tools: Seeing data in a way that’s easy to understand will help you make better decisions about where to focus your efforts. Some popular data visualization tools include Tableau Public and Google Sheets.

    • Compare and contrast results: Once you’ve gathered some data, it’s essential to compare it against previous versions of the same campaign or product. This will help you identify any changes or improvements you may have made and areas where further improvement is needed.

    • Don’t be afraid to experiment: If a marketing strategy isn’t working as intended, don’t be scared to try something new. However, ensure that you test the new approach in a limited way to monitor its performance closely.

    Marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a business, and if done right, can lead to exponential growth for your business. Once you better understand the field and its needs, you can put your best foot forward and optimize marketing campaigns to boost ROI.

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    Piyanka Jain

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  • How Telematics Will Improve the Efficiency of Transportation and Logistics in the Coming Years

    How Telematics Will Improve the Efficiency of Transportation and Logistics in the Coming Years

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Transportation and logistics operations are in a brittle, fast-changing business landscape. Logistics is all about ensuring accuracy, transparency and timely services today. The Covid-19 crisis demanded logistics companies gain overall visibility, flexibility and agility despite the industry’s growing complexity, and Brexit has added a new set of challenges.

    It is no longer a secret that customers expect more, and with rising customer demands, fleet companies need to be flexible and innovative. Digital solutions like telematics help them meet those needs, extend beyond traditional approaches and be prepared to deploy futuristic concepts.

    Related: How Telematics Has Completely Revolutionized the Management of Fleet Vehicles

    Telematics combines telecommunications and informatics to unlock critical insights that help logistics and fleet companies make strategic decisions, address multiple fleet management challenges and boost fleet efficiency. Hence, logistics businesses worldwide are investing in telematics solutions and making fleets interconnected like never before. McKinsey estimates that data shared through telematics will be worth $750 trillion by 2030.

    However, telematics has advanced over the years and shifted from collecting data about vehicles to analyzing data about drivers. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, IoT and advanced analytics have facilitated telematics to unleash previously impossible applications and leverage the benefits of real-time data transmission.

    Then, what is the future? Undoubtedly, telematics is here to stay, making the future of logistics and telematics digital-driven. In fact, connectivity and convenience will rule the coming years, fostering on-demand and flexible logistics. And here, technology will be the biggest driver.

    IoT and blockchain

    Thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), everything is connected. IoT sensors and connected solutions are already helping logistics companies to intelligently combine the physical world with the digital world and simplify the unbending world of logistics, bolstering visibility and efficiency. Intelligent logistics networks are looming, enabling fleet companies to trace and ensure reliable operations.

    IoT will enable more intelligent connectivity and share information about product conditions, whereabouts and goods management. When fleet managers can remotely know the exact temperature in trailers, they can ensure safer and more efficient deliveries, mitigating the risk and costs associated with dead stock. Timely decision-making insights can go a long way to maintaining broad margins.

    IoT combined with blockchain will provide greater transparency. Distributed ledger technologies will allow every party in the supply chain to track goods and entirely rely on the data’s accuracy. The peer-to-peer technology of blockchain will coordinate deliveries to vehicles directly and automatically without any human intervention. Everybody could see and analyze each movement and activity, identify improvements and action them now (and rapidly). Over time, we can also expect IoT devices to be smaller and easily accessible.

    Related: Why the Internet of Things is Taking Over the Markets

    5G

    Providing a connection intensity of 1 million connections/km2, 5G is set to disrupt the world with super-fast internet speed. With a ten times quicker speed than 4G, 5G will enforce Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) applications. Vehicles will share information, understand infrastructure signals and encompass knowledge of cyclists and pedestrians without going through the network. And with a response time of less than a millisecond, we will witness vehicles perpetually talking to each other like in-person human conversations.

    Fleet and logistics companies can improve safety, operate on transparent data and improve fleet management with such robust network capabilities. Besides, 5G can be the wave-maker for trailblazing innovations like augmented reality fleet applications.

    Digital twins

    Indeed, 5G promises lower latency, impeccable bandwidth and faster communication, implying that we need robust telematics systems to handle such a surge of data, quickly analyze data in real time and make the most out of valuable data sources. “Real-time digital twins” — a new software technique — provides the necessary evolution in the existing telematics software for streaming analytics.

    Rather than processing incoming telemetry through delayed batched analysis, digital twins do it as data rolls in. It simply creates a twin of each physical data source and studies inbound insights from that particular data source. Here, data sources are vehicles, drivers or containers. So, each digital twin holds critical detailed information about its corresponding data source, assists in evaluating incoming information and effectively updates the specific data source’s knowledge. With such on-the-spot information from digital twins, fleet admins can make the most rational decision on anything that requires immediate attention.

    Typically, delayed batch analysis can take hours to aggregate and analyze incoming data, but real-time digital twins taper the entire process to seconds and empower better situational awareness. Additionally, digital twins can use the 5G network to send back signals to the vehicle and elevate dual-communication capabilities. For example, using machine learning algorithms, digital twins can catch sight of an imminent vehicle equipment failure and alert drivers immediately.

    And as these digital twins operate on in-memory, scalable computing systems, logistics businesses can easily manage increased data sources with growing fleet size by injecting more digital twins. Due to logistics’ complex nature, digital twins will aid telematics to keep the fleet’s challenges under the thumb.

    Related: Why Blockchain and Digital Twins Are Good Partners

    Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

    A fair and responsible logistics system will play an essential part in fleet management strategy and work towards a safer, cleaner future for all. With the introduction of Clean Air Zones (CAZs) and Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), transportation and logistics need to shift to a supply chain that does not harm the environment and evolve into a greener and more sustainable mobility. Thereupon, fleet businesses will have to follow a market-responsive, demand-driven supply chain model, and MaaS will become dominant.

    Integrating various modes of transport services into a single mobility service available on demand, MaaS will allow logistics to move from one point to another on time and cost-efficiently. But when integrated with telematics, MaaS can unify a range of operations from mobility planning to asset management. Instead of handling a few physical assets within the company, fleet owners can manage mobility for all assets across numerous companies.

    MaaS enables fleet businesses to naturally scale efficiently and leverage the economic benefits of sharing vehicles with other companies by using existing facilities and a labor force. In reality, logistics will focus on vehicle usage rather than vehicle ownership. The environmental impact will directly be linked with the company’s failure and success, making reverse logistics critical and changing the linear supply chain to circular.

    The future will be defined by how well logistics can focus on deploying technologies onto their existing systems. Evolution will take place from siloed reactive operations to forethoughtful thinking to meet the rising demands of delivering goods in a personalized and purposeful way. Increased connected solutions will foster logistics companies to work across the ecosystem, making cross-border collaboration the new normal. So, telematics and logistics will unfollow being cheaper and efficient but rather be intelligent and personalized.

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    Ekim Saribardak

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  • How to Give Customers the Digital Experience They Crave

    How to Give Customers the Digital Experience They Crave

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The discrepancy between the quality of digital experiences customers report and what businesses believe they are delivering online is proving to be more significant than previously thought.

    Only 10% of global customers agree that brands provide a good digital experience, while 82% of marketers believe they are meeting customer experience (CX) expectations. This abysmal statistic serves as a call to action for businesses everywhere — they must prioritize and optimize their online customer experience to meet customer expectations or risk revenue losses and a damaged reputation.

    Anticipating what customers want out of their digital experience through rigorous analysis can have a significant impact on a brand’s success. By adopting best practices, strategies and tooling, businesses across industries can close the gap between what they think they are delivering and what customers report experiencing.

    Related: What Customers Expect Out of Their Digital Experience

    Digital experience makes or breaks a brand

    The digital experience is essential to a company’s profitability and longevity, yet customers feel as though their expectations are not being met on digital platforms. A total of 54% of U.S. customers say the user experience (UX) of brand websites needs improvement. Brands must listen to customers and understand all issues within digital experiences, taking swift steps to address points of friction.

    Responding to problems as they arise is crucial, but it is just as important to be proactive when developing digital experiences. Brands must work to anticipate customer needs and design platforms with evolving customer preferences in mind.

    Eliminating company blindspots through CX enhancements

    Every company has blind spots — business leaders do not understand customers’ wants and needs, so they invest in the wrong areas. Knowing exactly where customers are experiencing pain points instead of guessing is key to delivering a better CX. Executives must take steps to investigate and close this “digital experience gap.”

    Using tools to surface hidden problem areas provides an opportunity to rectify them — giving customers a reason to come back and stay loyal to one’s brand and website. A recent Emplfi study broke down several key areas where customers experience the biggest pain points:

    • Nearly 20% of customers will abandon a website after just one bad experience.
    • Having a previous positive experience with a brand influences where they make a new purchase.
    • Half of customers will abandon a brand they have been loyal to for over a year due to poor CX.
    • Poor CX and low-quality products are equally harmful to a brand.
    • The main contributors to a negative CX are slow response times and a lack of 24/7 customer service. Customers expect a response within an hour.
    • Customers across the board want access to self-service options to resolve issues independently.

    All it takes is one wrong move for a customer to abandon goodwill toward a brand. Companies are increasingly relying on modern digital tools to help identify sources of customer frustrations and mitigate site abandonment.

    Related: 5 Ways to Show Your Customers You Understand Them in a Digital-First World

    Proven strategies to tackle problem CX areas

    A total of 86% of customers say that they are ready to pay more for a better customer experience, making digital experience improvements a revenue-driving opportunity. Implementing technology that can help businesses anticipate customer needs and respond to user issues in real time can lead to increased conversions and enhanced efficiency. Proven strategies include:

    • Leverage AI: Implementing an AI-driven digital experience analytics platform enables businesses to proactively identify and resolve problems surfaced through customer feedback and interactions data.
    • Prioritize a self-service model: Customers expect immediate answers to any issues they may encounter without having to deal with customer service representatives. Incorporating a chatbot, dynamic FAQs and semantic search engines help customers find their answers with ease.
    • Individualization: An individualized digital experience for each customer is essential, as nearly three-quarters of customers expect personalized interactions. Furthermore, 76% are frustrated when personal interactions aren’t delivered.

    The power of data and analytics

    Businesses cannot close the digital experience gap and meet their customers’ expectations if they do not have a thorough understanding of how customers are navigating their digital platforms. To achieve that understanding, they can integrate analytics solutions such as a Digital Experience Intelligence (DXI) platform to capture and analyze 100% of customer interactions across channels.

    As a DXI platform serves as a single source of truth, the analyses can be used by various teams, helping businesses prioritize and quickly make data-driven decisions about customer experience improvements. Teams are immediately alerted to technical issues on a brand’s website or mobile app so they can be solved before significantly impacting revenue or the customer experience, ensuring a frictionless journey.

    Related: 3 Tips for Using Consumer Data to Create More Personalized Experiences

    Improve digital experiences now for the future

    It has never been more important to close the digital experience gap. The customer journey is invaluable; maintaining an exceptional digital experience requires teams to work diligently behind the scenes to tackle any possible issues before they escalate.

    Implementing strategies that prioritize anticipating and meeting customer needs ensures long-term brand success. Through best practices, businesses across industries will soon deliver the quality experience customers say has been missing from their digital journeys.

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    Asim Zaheer

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  • The Internet of Things Might Not Be Doomed, Here’s Why

    The Internet of Things Might Not Be Doomed, Here’s Why

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Just a few years ago, the Internet of Things (IoT) was the talk of the town. The promise of an interconnected web of objects equipped with sensors of all stripes that would communicate with each other in a way hitherto only envisioned in science fiction was seen as imminent.

    Startups sprung up left, right, and center, and segments flooded the airwaves about new smart cities, like Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi-inspired project, Neom. That reality has still not panned out, and it still seems distant. Some have written off IoT and almost thrown it in the dustbin of history along with other defunct technologies that didn’t deliver on their promises.

    One of the challenges IoT faces is that it depends on a very high level of high tech to be deployed in many places. A smart system that recognizes a light bulb needs fixing will require some sensor that communicates with each light bulb.

    You can’t just plug devices into a “‘smart solution” and suddenly expect a technological nirvana to unfurl. In an incredibly technologically heterogeneous world covered with both high and low tech, you need integrative technological solutions, which are still rather limited.

    Related: Is Your Business Ready for the Internet of Things?

    The world can, however, integrate existing solutions much better. Positioning systems, cybersecurity systems, and physical security systems already exist. Most necessities are on the grid, and everyone is online. We can put together the tremendous technological tools already at our disposal by utilizing integrated technologies and get a long way toward IoT’s promised land.

    Some creative ways exist to bridge the need to equip the world with sensors. Elon Musk realized this when he argued that self-driving cars do not need to be equipped with radar. Instead, they can rely on sight just like humans and still possess superhuman driving skills. We, humans, use sight to identify objects, events and threats at a distance from us. There is no reason why machines could not utilize vision as adeptly.

    Computer vision extends far beyond the novel wonders of self-driving cars, possibly even into every little thing about our lives. Data-annotation service provider Keymakr, for example, recently joined forces with SeeChange to leverage AI to reduce the number of times shoppers and employees slip, trip, or fall in brick-and-mortar stores. The AI identifies and notifies employees of liquid spills in fall-risk areas.

    Computer vision in this scenario prevents stores from having to equip the floor with additional sensors to detect if it’s slippery, instead using cameras already in place. Imagine the boundless other applications for such technology, ranging from predictive maintenance to reshaped hospitality with automated services or a new level of proactive and personalized remote healthcare. The potential applications are bound only by our imagination.

    We will have to address the issue of security, considering by now, we have the experience to know that almost every device is hackable. Connecting all the world’s devices poses brand-new security risks. We all read about exposed personal data hourly and experience too many technological failures daily. Are we ready to trust a vast network of integrated electronic devices to run the world smoothly and safely?

    After all, IoT devices run on software susceptible to many vulnerabilities that can be exploited. As more and more devices become connected to the internet, we will face an increased risk of hackers accessing data gold mines from massive networks that were previously much more challenging to target. They’ll do so by attacking less secure IoT devices connected to that network.

    Focussing on individual vulnerabilities, however, won’t yield the most effective security outcomes. Instead, it results in a much more costly, computerized version of whack-a-mole where the security professionals run after vulnerabilities to patch them up one by one.

    By taking a holistic approach to the security of IoT devices, cybersecurity company Sternum IoT builds itself into the system’s firmware to ensure the code can’t be tweaked. Simply put, even if a malicious attacker could hack into the device, they would be barred from actually performing any of the functions that inflict harm.

    We need more proactive takes on IoT security to ensure companies can come out ahead instead of playing catch-up with hackers and constant costly vulnerability patching, as security is usually performed today.

    IoTs’ promise to truly connect us and technology in a new way is similar to what’s happening with self-driving cars. We heard all about it constantly for a period, and one could be forgiven for thinking we’d all be driven around by machines by 2023.

    While the technology is still not ubiquitous, it is advancing quite nicely. Think how much of the driving experience is already automated compared to just a few years ago. Cruise control, automated lane adjustments, and collision aversion technologies are only a few of the dozens of automated features.

    Related: How Cloud Agnostic Hardware Could be The Future of IoT

    With access to low-cost, low-power sensors, new levels of connectivity, cloud computing platforms, machine learning and analytics, IoT is already combining state-of-the-art technology into something new and exciting. It is certain that IoT will grow and that technologists will do well by staying ahead of the curve. But it remains to be seen how fast and for how long that growth will continue. It might just be that IoT is still like the sleeping giant which will move the world when it wakes up.

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    Ariel Shapira

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  • This Top-Rated PDF Solution Is 66% Off Now

    This Top-Rated PDF Solution Is 66% Off Now

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Paper has made its way largely out of business, but that doesn’t mean you don’t still work with documents regularly. Instead, we’re just working with them differently: with the dreaded PDF. These static files can be great if you’re positive that a document is ready, but a serious nightmare when you have to make changes. When you’re working with a lot of PDFs, you need a quality digital solution.


    Superace

    We’ve got a deal you’ll like. For a limited time, you can get a lifetime subscription to UPDF Pro for 66% off.

    UPDF Pro is one of the top-rated PDF solutions on the market. Geeky Gadget writes, “UPDF is a potent PDF editor and PDF converter designed to stay up with advanced technologies. It ensures that whichever features you use are up to date. UPDF not only converts PDF to Word but can perform many advanced editing.” Fossbytes adds, “UPDF doesn’t have a boring interface like other PDF software. The design is stunning and eye-catching. On top of it, it is convenient to use. You wouldn’t be bothered with a complex design that is very time-consuming.”

    These are just the tip of the iceberg of positive reviews for this all-in-one PDF solution for individuals and businesses. With it, you can edit any PDF document across Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, adding or deleting text, editing fonts and color, and much more. The tool allows you to add, crop, rotate, replace, extract or delete images, watermark documents, and password-protect them for elevated confidentiality. You can also easily annotate PDFs, highlight, underline, or strike out text, add shapes and notes, and much more. Finally, it’s even easy to convert any PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and a ton of other file types in just a click.

    Working with PDFs has never been easier than with a lifetime subscription to UPDF Pro. Grab it on sale for 66% off $149 at just $49.99, the best price you’ll find online.

    Prices subject to change.

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    Entrepreneur Store

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  • Here’s How Your Business Can Stop Fraud in Its Tracks

    Here’s How Your Business Can Stop Fraud in Its Tracks

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    For some businesses, fraud is nothing more than an accepted expense casually factored into the company’s bottom line. But for those who understand the true threat, fraud is a risk that must be prevented and stopped at all costs. We’ve become so accustomed to fraud’s existence that it now, unfortunately, seems like a fact of life. It doesn’t have to be this way, but preventing fraud requires a paradigm shift. It requires knowing your customer (KYC) and adopting practices that many companies have shied away from for years. Fraud will keep increasing until the business world embraces prevention from the first stages of customer interaction.

    Fraud is a business problem

    The internet has made fraud easy. Covid-19 made it even easier, with more businesses moving their workflows to digital platforms. Unfortunately, without a subsequent improvement in security practices, this digitalization exponentially increased the attack surface area for fraudsters worldwide who won’t hesitate to seize the advantage. According to LexisNexis, there was a 19.8% increase in fraud costs from 2019 to 2022.

    Fraud costs are a real problem for businesses. Of course, individuals bear the cost of fraud as well, but companies see a significant impact on their bottom line. Each $1 of fraud, according to the same LexisNexis study, costs eCommerce merchants in America an actual $3.75 once the response is all said and done. All told, fraudsters were able to steal about $28 billion in 2021 alone through identity fraud. Our current economic downturn means fraudsters will be more, not less, bold in their attacks.

    Clearly, fraud is more than a pesky issue. Not only does it cost both businesses and customers vast amounts of money, but it can also lead to significant damage to a brand. Businesses risk losing customers’ trust if they don’t appear to be tackling the issue and keeping their customers safe. This problem is incumbent upon companies to solve. However, it’s not as hard as we might think.

    Related: Why Verifying User Identities Is a Good Thing For Your Customers and Your Business

    Most fraud starts (and ends) with identity

    Most scams start at account creation, where a fraudster impersonates a real person or creates a fake persona to carry out fraudulent activity. KYC has historically consisted of methods like human-based document verification, SSN, knowledge-based authentication (KBA), as well as other database information to identify a person is who they are claiming to be by what they know about the individual. This might have worked 20 years ago, but the traditional methods we have been accustomed to are not cutting it anymore. Too much personal information is available online, and fraudsters can usually find the answers to security questions through data dumps or trolling a victim’s social media. Luckily, the solution already exists, using widely-accepted tools and stopping identity fraud at the source — account creation.

    Strong KYC practices at onboarding have often been avoided because of the misconception that they create too much friction for users. Truthfully, the tools are in place to make this a frictionless transaction. All the customer needs to do at the onset is capture their government-issued ID and then take a selfie. Such a small step can significantly reduce problems later on by creating an environment where fraud is prevented from the outset. It also sets the stage for frictionless continued fraud prevention using the selfie biometric for ongoing re-authentication.

    The secret behind strong, ongoing KYC

    Strong onboarding practices create a highly effective and streamlined re-authentication process for subsequent transactions with a customer. As the customer continues to interact with a business, it can use advanced analytics to build a baseline of behavior to assess risk levels dynamically. All the customer sees is the occasional request for a selfie, which then is compared with multiple other data points to verify a person’s identity.

    Another term for this practice is multi-factor authentication (MFA). That’s lazily been construed as “security measures” like SMS-based one-time passcodes. Unfortunately, while such added security measures are standard in business, they’re among the easiest MFA methods to break — a thief can intercept an SMS-based code for as little as $16.

    That doesn’t mean MFA needs to be completely thrown out. The concept is based in fact: The most secure identity verification consists of a combination of something you are, something you know and something you have. The hardest to spoof is something you are: biometrics. These include fingerprints, facial scans, voice recognition and retina scans (among many others). Today’s modern biometrics proofing is quickly approaching 100% accuracy.

    Incorporating these security measures also creates much stronger assurances for the company, since friendly fraud is a big problem. With facial recognition integrated into the account management process, companies now have time-stamped, verified proof that a person did make that purchase. With some simple tweaks to identity verification, businesses could save over $48 billion per year in fraudulent chargebacks.

    Related: The Technologies Consumers Can Use to Combat Fraud

    Active monitoring — the key to continued success

    The journey doesn’t stop at biometrics, though. A robust orchestration layer is needed to organize the tiny pieces of data spread across the internet into a comprehensive picture of each unique customer. This behind-the-scenes work can help monitor the KYC fundamentals to vet for fraud continuously.

    Orchestration and active monitoring also help keep the good customers while weeding out (or even preventing from the start) the customers you’d rather not do business with. Using a trusted vendor to execute these third-party identity verification actions, on top of the original and ongoing verification methods maintained in-house, helps businesses with underwriting. You can also assess risk in real-time; if a customer is usually in California but trying to sign in from Russia, you’re better able to catch the fraud and stop it in its tracks.

    Related: The Solution to Preventing Identity Theft in an Increasingly Digital World

    Simple KBA methods alone can’t keep up with advanced identity fraud techniques. Unfortunately, many companies equate better identity proofing with a worsened customer experience, but in reality, fraud prevention can enhance interactions and even streamline workflows for businesses and customers alike. Businesses can have their cake and eat it, too, by incorporating better identity verification from the start of the customer’s journey, along with biometric-based MFA and continuous, active monitoring. Our customers deserve it, and it will take a big bite out of the global identity fraud game.

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    Clayton Roth

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  • How Businesses Can Combat Fraud and Increase Efficiency

    How Businesses Can Combat Fraud and Increase Efficiency

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    “There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.”

    These words of wisdom from Benjamin Franklin have, unfortunately, proven timeless. People have been defrauding the government for centuries, but last month, the US hit an estimated $45 billion in COVID-19-related unemployment fraud. Now the government starts the long, costly and inefficient process of recouping the money, conducting investigations and punishing those responsible. This process is often called the “pay and chase” model.

    With all that fraud, it can be challenging for government agencies and private companies to separate the wheat from the chaff (or, in this case, the fraud from the noise). For example, is a person calling your call center with a device you haven’t seen before actually an existing customer with a new phone or someone attempting to take over an account?

    These issues create room for inefficiencies and cost companies huge operational sums when they cannot tell the difference. But, going too heavy with stricter verification that may dampen the customer experience is also something you have to avoid. The good news is it’s possible to identify fraudulent activity with modern technology better and thus increase efficiency.

    Related: The Government Is Not Immune to Account-Takeover Fraud, and That Could Be Trouble for You and Me

    Modern fraud and its noisy neighbor

    At its core, the focus of fraudsters has remained on tricking people into giving access to as much money or data as possible. It’s nothing new; the term “con man” was likely coined in the 1800s. Whether it’s Bill Starbuck’s “The Rain Song” from the musical 110 in the Shade, where the charismatic con man convinces townspeople to give him money to make it rain and end a drought, or someone calling your grandmother and pretending to be a government agency, fraud has always been, and always will be.

    Our ability to close fraud loopholes is improving. Still, fraudsters are constantly creating new schemes, and technology continues to enable them to get better at fooling us and covering their tracks. This requires businesses and the government to react to new trends quickly; the best defense against fraud is to be aware of the techniques, remain on guard and educate consumers to do the same. All the while, businesses and governments must walk a tightrope between restricting freedoms too much and being purely reactive to crime.

    The public and private sectors utilize call centers for customer account issues and require telephonic calls for some account actions. Unfortunately, these call centers are very susceptible to fraud. The time customer service reps spend trying to distinguish between fraud and noise (i.e., the legitimate calls that get flagged as fraud) distracts from more critical business and carries high costs.

    For example, in the financial services industry, the cost of fraud to businesses is $4 for every $1 of actual fraud. That means, on average, if a person defrauds $1,000 from a company, that business’s related costs will be $4,000. And this figure doesn’t include additional costs incurred if a fraudster secures enough information on their first attempt to follow up with more attempts on the same business or its clients, nor the cost of reputational damage post-attack.

    One of the big problems, though, is that fraud and noise can often seem similar. For instance, imagine you broke your cell phone and got a new one. When you try to access your bank account from your new phone, your account gets flagged because it doesn’t recognize the device. Now, you have to call to unlock your account, and your bank needs to spend resources confirming your identity. This protects the consumer and the bank but introduces inefficiency for both parties.

    Related: How to Identity Proof in an Increasingly Virtualized World

    So, what’s an agency to do?

    Is there a solution? Modern identity proofing continues to progress in leaps and bounds. The technology exists now to implement much better identity proofing that’s device-agnostic and uses powerful, behind-the-scenes algorithms to prove a customer’s identity — often without them even realizing what’s going on. Artificial intelligence (AI) helps us use data points across the web to calculate the risk associated with a person or caller and create a dynamic risk profile. Then, based on their risk level, they may be required to complete additional automated steps to log in to their account or conduct business.

    There are more straightforward steps, as well. For example, impersonating the dead has long been a lucrative tactic for fraudsters. Years ago, criminals even got hold of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Death Master File, a restricted record with millions of people to impersonate. One of the first steps a company can take during the account creation process is to check the Death Master File. Every time a person initiates a request for money with an agency, a quick screening can be done to ensure the person requesting a payment from the government is not a dead person. That would be a sure sign something’s amiss.

    Of course, there’s no end to the trickery. Recently, I watched in real-time as a phone-based scam targeted my stepmother. She received a text that appeared to be from a friend saying her email had been the target of a scam, and my stepmom should call a particular number to make sure hers hadn’t also been compromised. I had to explain that it wasn’t her friend texting but someone using her friend’s number.

    Older people are especially susceptible to fraud like this, but scammers have discovered impersonating a government agency or some entity with authority is a winner. If we get a call saying we’re in trouble with a government entity, will we ignore it? Probably not — many of us will do exactly what they say.

    Related: How Technology Can Improve CX for Government Services

    A continuous process

    We aren’t going to be able to screen out fraud completely. But we can get better at thwarting it, saving operational dollars and resources and providing good customer experiences. The greatest vulnerability in any system is usually the humans using it, so implementing more automated identity-proofing and anti-scam tools can help bridge the gap. We can build efficiency into our systems by keeping up with the latest scam trends and implementing adequate technical controls to stop them.

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    Scott Straub

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  • 5 Ways Facial Biometrics Can Help Your Business

    5 Ways Facial Biometrics Can Help Your Business

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Using a person’s face to authenticate themselves is something that humans have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years. New technological advancements have transformed how we interact with one another, and businesses especially are capitalizing on these advancements to verify identity. Those previous pillars of in-person and digital verification, like knowledge-based authentication (KBA), are no longer adequate protection against fraud.

    Why? Just as technology advances, so does fraud. Facial biometric technology has become the foundation that businesses and consumers rely on to verify their identities. In this article, we will provide the top five reasons facial biometrics can help your business.

    Related: The Importance of Having Accurate Facial Recognition

    1. It’s highly accurate and can stop fraud

    Facial biometrics offer businesses a high degree of confidence that the customer is a legitimate user and is who they claim to be. The authentication process is streamlined in a way that passwords and traditional two-factor authentication (2FA) never could be — all users need to do is look at their device or any other camera to prove their identity.

    In addition to being highly difficult for fraudsters to compromise due to the accuracy of facial recognition technology, the leading algorithms also now produce near-zero bias, performing far better than manual human review. In fact, in one recent study of facial recognition algorithms, NIST found the technology could identify passengers boarding an airplane at an accuracy rate of 99.5%. Furthermore, this success rate (for the top facial recognition algorithms) was the same regardless of demographics, meaning race or gender had no meaningful impact on accuracy.

    This level of accuracy can significantly impact a business’s ability to combat a variety of types of fraud. For example, companies can have much more confidence at account creation that the user is real through identity confirmation (as long as they match the selfie with liveness detection and an authentic government-issued ID). It can also prevent account takeover fraud; SMS-based 2FA is notoriously easy to intercept, and modern algorithms are getting ever-better at weeding out sophisticated 3D masks or similar facial spoofing hacks.

    2. It’s easy for users

    Facial biometrics are also effortless for users to adopt. Customers are easily turned off by clunky authentication measures like KBA, particularly if they’re required multiple times during a transaction. It’s much simpler to look at your camera and take a selfie instead of inputting a password or receiving a text message.

    Facial biometrics is also gaining wider and wider acceptance among the general population. As concerns about privacy and accuracy are addressed and corrected, this technology will continue to gain widespread acceptance. While using any biometrics method is better than not using it at all, there is a reason why all of our devices have moved to facial biometrics for unlocking: Simply put, it’s easier for the user. Businesses can take advantage of this growing acceptance and make the user experience simpler and more secure with one step, leading to happier customers.

    Related: How Biometric Solutions Are Shaping Workplace Security

    3. It provides strong underwriting

    More and more businesses are adopting heavy underwriting practices to combat fraud and meet regulatory requirements. Friendly fraud is a high cost to modern businesses. Unfortunately, fraudsters may attempt to claim a legitimate purchase occurred, a subscription was renewed or an account change was made fraudulently and request a chargeback to their payment. Merchants overwhelmingly bear the burden of this fraud when they can’t prove identity, but facial recognition can reduce its occurrence significantly.

    Just like having an eyewitness at the scene of the crime, facial biometrics provides businesses with a time-stamped, verified image of a person making a transaction. When someone attempts to dispute a charge, that company has irrefutable proof that the person did, in fact, make the purchase. This is also important for meeting regulatory requirements and even protecting businesses from fines and lawsuits. It also provides solid evidence in the case of any future audits on a customer’s account or purchase history.

    4. It can reduce operational costs

    Facial biometrics can reduce operational costs by removing the need for current labor-intensive security checks that are used to confirm a customer’s identity for suspicious purchases, wire transfers or account changes. This includes texting or emailing a client as well as even calling them to ensure they are the ones behind the event. These customer service costs can quickly add up, not to mention the fact that you’re increasing the opportunities for your users to experience poor customer service as well as opening your business up to fraud via man-in-the-middle attacks.

    In addition, the number of analysts needed to review, monitor and even rectify transactions has swelled. The 2022 LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud Study has now calculated that for every $1 in fraud losses, it actually costs the business $3.75 due to an increase in fraud volume, new digital payment methods and the high cost of replacing and redistributing goods.

    Facial biometrics render all of this unnecessary. Companies can eliminate substantial operational costs and save time and resources for their fraud teams simply by pairing a quick selfie with liveness detection. You can be sure with a high degree of certainty that the individual is who they say they are, and your team can stop wasting time analyzing transactions or unlocking accounts.

    Related: Complete Guide to Understanding Facial Biometrics: Should You Be Scared?

    5. It’s device agnostic

    Finally, facial biometrics can be implemented without concern for customer devices because it’s device agnostic. As long as a device has a camera, it can perform the necessary functions for facial authentication. There’s no requirement for fingerprint scanners or microphones in loud, busy areas; these cameras are small, inexpensive and can be installed at any kiosk where such transactions occur. Furthermore, even cheap cameras can offer accurate facial recognition with modern algorithms. It also helps that almost everyone carries a high-quality camera in their pockets via their mobile device.

    People use facial recognition to identify others every day. It’s been a strange century, where our move to digital rapidly outpaced the technology to keep using faces. However, we’re quickly moving past that limitation, and facial biometrics are a reliable gateway for businesses to verify their customers’ identities. It’s time to make the move, and companies that are able to implement facial authentication fully will reap the rewards.

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    Clayton Roth

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  • 4 Ways Black Diversity Leaders Succeed, and How Executive Peers Can Make Sure They Do

    4 Ways Black Diversity Leaders Succeed, and How Executive Peers Can Make Sure They Do

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In a previous article, I explored several reasons Black diversity officers struggle and how their CEOs can help. That opens the door to more straight talk about how the leaders themselves can step into their success and how their executive colleagues can be part of that success story.

    I focus on diversity leaders who identify as Black for three reasons: a majority of diversity leaders in America are Black, their Blackness matters and the opportunities they have are familiar to every diversity leader. At this point in history, inclusive leaders are learning to focus on race and keep other aspects of identity in view simultaneously.

    Let’s look at four ways you, as a diversity leader — or as one of your executive peers — can thrive in this vital role.

    1. Ensure that the Diversity Leader’s role is scoped and resourced for achievement

    The ‘DEI Why’ has to be clear and achievable. Yes, it’s crucial to have an aspirational vision for the work, but the successful DEI leader equips other leaders to build their point of view around DEI and lead more inclusively. When you are a high-performing Chief Diversity Officer, you lead a center of excellence that improves company results with talent and customers by reducing bias and generating opportunity.

    So your success as a DEI leader is at serious risk if soaring expectations for what you will achieve languish from a laughably small budget and insufficient sponsorship.

    The CEO and CHRO come in here, ensuring that the agenda, objectives, resources and metrics owned by the diversity leader are reasonable, impactful and communicated. Like any investment, the right team and an actual budget will produce returns.

    Every executive peer to a diversity leader should be asking a behavioral question: How am I substantively supporting our CDO’s success?

    Related: These Are the Biggest Blind Spots in Diversity Initiatives, According to 8 Women Experts

    2. The organization is investing in the Diversity Leader’s development

    Diversity leaders get to improve like every employee. The right commitment to a Black CDO’s growth includes two investments:

    • Business Savvy — Integrate the CDO into the business’s goals, challenges and budgeting core, certainly in policy development, key customer relationships and strategy building with the Board. Center DEI in the company by centering the senior diversity leader in how decisions are made and resources are assigned.
    • Competency Building — Every executive has room to grow. CDOs need active, personal guidance for establishing their brand, optimizing their strengths and minimizing their shortcomings. Black diversity leaders, in particular, require empathetic and honest feedback because white colleagues, in particular, may have been afraid to provide them with the right mix of praise and coaching for improvement. If you’re a white executive like me, commit to care and honesty to grow a relationship of trust with your CDO.

    3. The Diversity Leader relies on influence partners

    The critical context for executive success is peer relationship quality, especially for Black DEI leaders. If trust is “the making and keeping of promises over time and across differences,” and accountability is “behaving in ways that grow trust,” then it is no surprise that diversity leaders of every identity thrive when surrounded by high-trust relationships with their peers in senior leadership.

    You know you’re an influence partner for your CDO when you’re asking yourself two questions: How can I follow their expertise and leadership to become a more effective and inclusive leader myself? In what other ways am I supporting her success?

    One of my favorite metrics, especially if you are a black CDO, is the number of executives influence partners you enjoy.

    Related: 7 Ways Leaders Can Level Up Their DEI Workplace Strategy

    4. The Diversity Leader is disciplined about self-care and leads with an authentic voice

    I’m speaking directly to Diversity Leaders here: You know it’s going well when you’re not struggling to care for yourself, and people are listening to you. You succeed when work is not overwhelming, your voice and agency are growing, and your self-doubt finds little traction. Personal renewal is a challenge for every senior leader — for every adult human, for that matter — and the amount of energy you are spending to remember to care for yourself and then doing so is an excellent indicator of your efficacy as a DEI leader.

    To those who serve as an influence partner to a Black CDO in particular, I offer this: attend to their wellness as friends and colleagues. Are they taking vacations? Are they working 60 or more hours every week? Do you regularly hear them laugh? Are their teams hitting deadlines and generating good ideas? The pandemic is teaching us to lead with genuine empathy, and diversity leaders in your organization deserve as much honest care as you can.

    Related: Self-Care for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

    The senior diversity leader in your firm, and their team, embody and lead the organization’s commitment to DEI as a strategy to dramatically grow the company’s performance and character. If you’re in such a role, dial into your success factors, and deprioritize everything else. To focus like this, secure the support from those above you and a growing circle of your influence partners. And if you are a peer to a Chief Diversity Officer, you can play a key role in her success.

    When diversity executives thrive, the DEI initiative produces results for the business. So we need our CDOs to succeed. Each one of us can help that happen.

    Related: 5 Examples of Unconscious Bias at Work and How to Solve Them

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    Chuck H. Shelton

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  • Get a Bundle of Premium Windows or Mac Apps, Including MS Office, for $60

    Get a Bundle of Premium Windows or Mac Apps, Including MS Office, for $60

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Many, many entrepreneurs are all the way in on remote work these days. That’s great if you can be productive without a specific office, but you can’t do your best work without quality digital tools. Apps and software can make or break your productivity, so it’s important to find the programs that help you do your best work.


    StackCommerce

    As part of our Cyber Monday doorbusters, we’re offering the best deals of the year on our best bundles of the year. Whether you’re a Mac user or a Windows user, you can save big on our Premium Limited Edition bundles for a very limited time. Purchase through the end of the month, and you can get a bunch of lifetime apps for more than 90% off, no coupon needed (while supplies last). Here’s a look at what’s included.

    The Premium Limited Edition Windows Bundle

    This bundle includes six apps to help you with everything from daily operations to overhauling your email. It’s headlined by Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows, which gives you Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote, Publisher, and Access. That’s a massive suite filled with tools and customizations to help you simplify any project.

    Every entrepreneur should invest in cybersecurity, and this bundle includes Ivacy VPN to give you a secure connection whenever you get on public Wi-Fi. Winner of the 2019 BestVPN.com Fastest VPN Award, Ivacy connects you to 3,500+ servers in 100+ locations worldwide with elite encryption and the extra security of a strict zero-logging policy.

    You’ll also get SplashID Pro, a leading password manager that will ensure you never lose another password again and prevent the likelihood of identity theft.

    VideoCom Pro gives you outstanding tools to create instructional videos, presentations, and more, with intuitive tools to enhance your communication with remote employees and collaborators.

    The XSplit VCam app allows you to optimize the background of video meetings and live streams without a green screen and with any webcam.

    Finally, Mail Backup X Pro offers premium email management and archiving, to make finding those old (or recent) paper trails a lot easier.

    Get The Premium Limited Edition Windows Bundle for just $59.99 (reg. $1,466) through November 30.

    The Premium Limited Edition Mac Bundle

    The Mac bundle includes the same six apps already discussed (in their Mac versions, of course), allowing you to work safely and seamlessly on your computer. You’ll also get Live Home Pro 3D, a TopTenReviews Gold Award Winner that makes home renovations and redesigns a whole lot easier.

    Get The Premium Limited Edition Mac Bundle at its Cyber Monday price of just $59.99 (reg. $1,466) through November 30.

    Prices subject to change.

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    Entrepreneur Store

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  • The App Store’s Top Scanner App is More Than 80% Off Today Only

    The App Store’s Top Scanner App is More Than 80% Off Today Only

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As hybrid and remote work entrench themselves all over the world, entrepreneurs have to prepare for the digital workplace. One of the best ways to do that is with a digital office like iScanner App, which just so happens to be available for life at a huge discount thanks to Black Friday weekend doorbuster pricing.


    BP Mobile

    iScanner is the #1 Scanning App on the App Store with 4.8/5 stars and more than 80 million downloads. 9to5Mac writes, “iScanner brings handy AI-based object counting camera feature to iPhone.” Gizmodo adds, “The iScanner app is yet another example of cleverly leveraging an always-connected camera to do more than just intelligently make photos look prettier.” It’s a top-rated tool and, just for today, you can get it for $29.99—no coupon needed.

    This leading app helps you solve everyday business tasks by turning your iOS device into a powerful digital office. As a document scanner, you can scan contracts, paper notes, books, and other documents, then edit, e-sign, or stamp documents. There are various scanning modes to make life easier for you, from ID and passport scanning to QR code scanning. You can even use your camera to count objects, solve math expressions, and calculate an object’s length or the total area of a room.

    As a PDF scanner, you can easily scan multiple pages into a single document, mark them up, redact them, eliminate curves and warps using the AI-powered scan straightener, and more. Once in the app, you can edit scans using color correction and noise-removing features, use the file manager to organize, protect information with locked folders and files, and start sharing and storing via email, messengers, and cloud services.

    Everything is easier with a digital office app like iScanner. Right now and until 11:59 p.m. Pacific tonight, you can subscribe to a lifetime of iScanner Premium Plus+ at its Black Friday weekend doorbuster price of only $29.99 (reg. 199).

    Prices subject to change.

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    Entrepreneur Store

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  • A Simple Guide to Software Integration for Startups

    A Simple Guide to Software Integration for Startups

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Your product is your company’s primary selling point, but it doesn’t have to be the only feature. In fact, when companies open up their products to integrations with third-party software, they unlock an entire world of possibilities. In the years since releasing our flagship product, the smart video intercom, the ButterflyMX team and I have made a pointed effort to expand our reach by integrating our software with third-party products.

    For example, just this year, we partnered with RemoteLock so that our unified access control solutions now connect to more than 80 smart locks to seamlessly provide building and apartment unit access from our mobile app. This has significantly expanded our products’ capabilities without the time, energy and financial investment of launching an entirely new product, which has helped grow our business substantially.

    If you’re at the helm of a startup looking to expand your product’s reach, consider integrating with other software.

    Related: Challenges that Companies Face in Software Integration

    What are the benefits of integrating your product with other software?

    No matter what product or service you offer, by integrating with other software, you combine various platforms into one unified software architecture. And by creating a large, integrated system, you increase functionality and convenience for consumers.

    Further, integrating your product with other software expands your product’s capabilities without the need to develop new products. Software integrations allow you to advance and expand your product faster because you exponentially increase its capabilities. Software integrations also offer an easy way to advance professional relationships with other companies in the industry.

    Why are partnerships important?

    When you’re building a company from the ground up, you must develop partnerships. Across all industries, the leading companies boast multiple integrations. In fact, the average SaaS (software-as-a-service) company has 15 integrations. However, some SaaS companies boast upwards of 500 integrations. By partnering with another company in your industry, you become a part of their growth. Then, when their product succeeds, so does yours, and vice versa.

    One of the biggest advantages of establishing integration partners is enhanced company growth by expanding your user base. Not only are you giving your customers a new tool or feature — leading to higher customer retention — but you’re also opening your business up to an entirely new customer base. With a partnership in place, you can expand your customer base and add new users with ease.

    Overall, developing deep business partnerships and software integrations will grow your business short- and long-term. In fact, you can think of new integrations as a new sales channel. You’re adding your products and services to an entirely new marketplace.

    Because your software integrations should be with companies in your industry or a related one, you’ll be selling to new customers with a similar customer profile. This means your product will inherently address their needs.

    How to approach partnerships as a startup

    So, you’ve decided it’s time to grow your company by enabling third-party software integrations. But how do you go about finding worthwhile partners? First, you need to look for companies whose customers match your ICP, or ideal customer profile. An ideal customer profile is a detailed outline of your company’s ideal client. The ICP is used to adjust marketing and lead generation tactics.

    By working with companies whose ICP matches yours, you increase the likelihood that their customers will find value in your product and vice versa. But remember, software integration isn’t a completely smooth process. The more integrations you enable, the more maintenance you’ll perform. Additionally, when changes are necessary, you must obtain approval from teams at both companies rather than just your own.

    So, ensure you have an internal team who can dedicate their time primarily to building the integration from the ground up and maintaining it post-launch to address and solve problems.

    Related: How to Use Strategic Partnerships for More Explosive Growth

    How to integrate your product with other services

    While software integration presents a unique and valuable opportunity for your business, partnerships aren’t guaranteed to succeed without hard work. In addition to a relevant and high-quality software integration, you need a robust strategic outline.

    Make sure you put your customers’ needs above all else. When building your software integrations, consider which products your customers already use, what kind of systems they may want to integrate with and how a specific integration can improve their experience with your product.

    Further, ensure that your integration has longevity by creating a strong foundation for your partnership. Integrations aren’t a quick hack to multiply your customer base. Instead, you should develop integrations with long-term business goals in mind. Then, with each new iteration of your integration, take into account customer feedback to improve the integration and your product overall.

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    Cyrus Claffey

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