Messaging apps have become part of human life. Individuals, families, and business organizations are looking at advanced messaging software to run their businesses and exchange communication on platforms. Does a normal messaging app work as a government messaging app? No, the normal and personal messaging apps are mostly limited to holding a large number of people and users on the platform, and their features are limited for government operations. Open-source applications might have a data breach and don't hold accountable for the data breach. There might be a chance for malware attacks where these applications are exclusively available as open-source and easily accessible on the internet. Government is an organization that is formed to govern the state and system. The main goal of the government is to administrate the state through agencies and affairs that are involved in various disciplines. Coordination between government organizations and departments is needed. The exchange of information between various departments is crucial for the implementation of policies, and strengthening law & order is a matter of concern for the government. To exchange files and information related to government orders, decisions have been dependent on traditional paper files and recently shifted to emails and faxes. However, government agencies and departments are constantly striving to connect and serve citizens. This has frequently meant adopting new technologies as information consumption and exchange become increasingly computerized and digitalized.   To meet new trends, some government agencies are turning to Government messaging apps as an opportunity to exchange information easily and work effectively. Table of Contents Best Tools for Government Messaging App How does Troop Messenger work as a Government Messaging App? Support the entire conversation Government or Department logo on messaging App How units are managed by TM-Admin? Home & Global Unit for Government Conclusion Best Tools for Government Messaging Apps Troop Messenger is a communication and team collaboration software that can work across all government agencies and departments for the exchange of information to enhance coordination, cooperation, and efficiency.   Features available on Troop Messenger are advanced in technology and easy to use as any other messaging app. How does Troop Messenger work as a Government Messaging App? Add the entire staff and officers on one platform!   Troop Messenger allows unlimited members as the amount the department and organization have. That also enables the creation of unlimited groups based on needs and projects.   Unlike WhatsApp, on Troop Messenger, the user can add regular and guest members as much as the department officials need. Any user can suggest adding a new member from either a citizen or officer from other departments for communication and conversation.   Government collaboration for all agencies and departments! The government messaging app is supposed to collaborate with all levels of staff and administrators on one platform, which is possible on Troop Messenger. Troop Messenger users can take text, voice, and video chats across the platforms. Officials can schedule meetings and conferences from remote locations. The application also supports screen sharing that enables the user to their home screen and tabs to the required members present in the meeting. Support the entire conversation The application supports all official Government Messages, orders, and notifications in all formats. The user can have a conversation via text, and voice messages, the feature makes applications as a government instant messenger. Members of the group can have group calls on both voice and video calls. This Government messaging app supports sharing files, documents, links, videos, and images that can be exchanged in private chats as well as enabling sharing in groups. The chat area filters option on Troop Messenger concedes that type of file to access in a faster way. These chat area filters help you to filter out text files, images, and videos separately. Government or Department logo on messaging App The government departments can upload their department’s logo on the UI of Troop Messenger, letting your staff feel at home. Also, you can set colors to the background of your logo and customize it according to your preferences. How units are managed by TM-Admin? The government messaging app is an admin-driven application that the admin can control and create the channels and groups based on location, project, program, and service needed by the government.   Administrators can create the Master Units based on department and day-to-day operations.The admin can create unlimited units based on location, department, and operation which are for a special cause. Each unit is created for the government by Location, Department, and Designation accordingly. The government servants and staff in the administration office can get transferred to other locations and reassigned from one unit to another based on the aspects of their place, project, department, and other reasons. Home & Global Unit for Government The government might be dealing with various departments such as educational institutions, hospitals, Banks, Police, revenue, parliamentary affairs, public relations, industries, and others. The Civil servants and the staff can be transferred to any location and department, in such a case, the primary home unit is the unit where the officer serves! They will have department staff and below cadre and members here in one unit.   Any member in a unit can initiate one-to-one chat, be invited to group conversations, have 1:1 or group audio-video calls, etc. With the users of the same unit directly, without any special request for authorization to have a conversation with the members of the same unit. Troop Messenger has allowed admins or members of one unit to reach other departments of which they are not part but are required to approach and coordinate for the government and mutual interest between departments.   Global Unit aids the Troop Messenger user to chat with other government agencies/units/departments. But, unlike home units, the user is not directly allowed to chat or join in meetings without authentication approved by the other unit member. The foreign unit user needs to request access, the conversation is possible only after it gets approval from the admin of the global unit. The employees can revoke the request by themselves or by removing it once they feel it is no longer required. The user can find all the received and sent authorization requests from the global units tab. Air Time Group Air Time group intended to pass the order, Government messages, and notices from higher officials and have admin access to the Government messaging app. It is a one-way chat group, meaning the admin alone can send messages to other members of the group. It is a kind of broadcasting channel where the information comes from one end and is notified to all members. Quick Response Panel- QRP Quick responsive panel stores the last 30 URLs, text files, images, videos, contacts, code snippets, canned, and all recent conversations in it. The panel helps the user pick and share quickly across intended groups and individual users while sending a new message. The user can enable QRP settings from their end. In case of emergency and repetitive tasks, the user can set it at their end. Edit A Message Official announcements and conversations must be in the right format and have a comprehensive script. In the view of the user, the edit option on messaging app is one of the required options for several formal and informal conversations on chatbots. The edit option on Troop Messenger enables the user to edit the sent messages within five minutes. An edited message can also be edited unlimited times within the time limit. The edited messages are viewed with a pen marker. Edit feature shown on the chat right-click menu, the option shown along with other features such as delete, recall, copy, forward, and others. Read Receipts Read Receipts tagged and read recipient acknowledgment feature; Troop Messenger to make the sender understand the message that has been sent across individuals/groups seen by the respondent.The recipient for whom the Government message is tagged has to acknowledge the message by clicking on the Read Receipts icon. The icon then turns into solid blue at both the receiver's/ sender’s end, the sign of color is to understand that the receiver has acknowledged the message. All read receipts messages can be found by using the advanced filter option on the menu. Flagging Flagging is an option to flag a message that you have sent/received that is considered as important. Those can easily filter and find the flagged messages from the chat area.   Users can find the feature, Flag in the message right-click menu to flag the selected message. Important messages can be reminded and recognized by flagging. Respond Later Higher officials very often participate in meetings and have field visits or maybe on some other program; they may not respond immediately to messages even if their response is necessary concerning the urgency and aid. In certain cases, the user can use ‘Respond Later’. The feature can be found with dotted red-colored circles tagged to the message. To reply to the tagged Respond Later messages, users can use an advanced “filter” for the tagged Respond Later messages by clicking on the Respond Later filter. The color on the messages will be cleared once the respondent gives a response to the message or can be removed manually. Forkout Fork out aids the user to share the information with many selected individuals, and groups without creating a special group to convey the Government message or content.  Orange member Orange members are guest users on Troop Messenger, the special guest user on the application for communication and interactions, such as a special officer for inspection or aid shall be added as an orange member. The core idea of Orange members is to add an outsider to the application of interest. All members in the department or organization can suggest an orange member, but the orange membership must be authorized by the admin. Security The whole business and operation of government agencies must be protected from cyber and malware attacks, its data must be protected as long as it is stored in the cloud. The data become vulnerable when the employees work on the internet and use unauthorized applications on their platform. To prevent such attacks Troop Messenger provides various security protocols.   Government agencies can use end-to-end encryption for all chat, video calls, text, and voice calls.   The application is also available as SasS, an on-premise chat solution for companies who want to keep the data and the whole process in their environment. The one-premise solution shall prevent malware attacks and the data will be stored in the company’s database.   Troop Messenger is also available as a chat API and real-time messaging API for all government and business organizations. The parties can integrate the APIs into their mobile app and websites. Conclusion Government is the protector of the citizens and serves the public by bringing programs. Troop Messenger can become the best government messaging app with advanced and secure features to aid all government departments and servants relentlessly.  

As a business owner, you may have developed a great product that can solve your customers’ pain points and offer them the best value. However, the perfect product or excellent service is not enough if you don’t offer the best customer experience. Your goal should be to not only attract your customers but also provide them with a remarkable experience. This will keep your customers happy and encourage repeat business. One of the most crucial aspects of customer experience is the space you use to welcome your customers. Whether you have a retail store that welcomes hundreds of customers every day, or an office that hosts the occasional customer meeting, your business space can make a big impression on your clients and contribute to their overall experience with your company. In the modern world where inclusiveness is important, this includes making it a family-friendly space in order to accommodate customers with children of all ages. Table of Contents 1. Make your Space Look Inviting 2. A Convenient Car Park 3. Facilitate Breastfeeding 4. Choose the Right Staff 5. Keeping Your Premises Clean 6. Install a Baby Changing Unit 1. Make your Space Look Inviting Regular maintenance is a must if your business receives customers regularly. Many customers decide whether they should buy from your store or not depending on how your premises look. Customers are more likely to do business with companies that look neat, warm, and inviting. So, how can you make your business look inviting? For starters, you should set up proper seating for your guests. Everyone who pays a visit to your brick-and-mortar store, factory, or office wants comfortable seating where they can take a load off and relax. Also, consider our interior décor – a fresh coat of paint, modern light fittings, and a few décor pieces can make a big difference in making your space look more inviting. 2. A Convenient Car Park Few things are as frustrating for your customers as a lack of adequate parking spaces outside close to your business. This is particularly the case for families with young children who have to wrangle several kids or manage strollers and get their little ones in and out of the car and to your business. How many times have you avoided shopping at a store just because it didn’t offer convenient parking? Think about the number of customers your business could lose due to inadequate parking space. If you want to make your business family-friendly, start with a spacious, efficient, and user-friendly parking lot and let your customers enjoy a seamless parking experience. 3. Facilitate Breastfeeding Another important thing you need to do to make your space family-friendly is to create a dedicated place for breastfeeding. A safe and private place for babies means mothers will have a seamless experience shopping from your store or feel welcome to visit your premises. This should also extend to your staff: provide a breastfeeding space for employees and give female workers paid breastfeeding breaks during office hours. Not only will this motivate your employees, but your customers will love your business for offering safe breastfeeding arrangements for mothers. 4. Choose the Right Staff Customer service can mean the difference between losing a customer to your competitors and retaining a loyal customer for years. One thing that makes your business family-friendly for your customers is genuinely-friendly service. People pay attention to how your staff interacts with them and how helpful they are. Let's say you visit a restaurant that has delicious food at a reasonable price. The staff, however, are super rude to you and you had to wait a long time for your meal. You probably won't go back to that restaurant again! On the other hand, if you come across excellent restaurant customer service, you'll become a regular in no time. That’s how important customer service is for any of your clients. You cannot retain your customers if you don’t hire the right people. Keep your staff well-communicated with the best team collaboration software! Take note of how your staff members welcome your customers. Hire team members who have the personality to be welcoming, and reinforce this behavior by rewarding staff who treat customers well. 5. Keeping Your Premises Clean Cleanliness is a must for any business, especially in the post-COVID world where health and hygiene are a top priority for everyone. This is even more true for parents who want to know that their children will be safe, particularly children who are too young to be vaccinated. Maintain the highest standards of hygiene at all times. This includes making sure all corners of the space are cleaned regularly, but also providing hand sanitizer and hand washing facilities. 6. Install a Baby Changing Unit Some essential pieces of equipment, such as a baby changing unit, can make all the difference in making your business more family-friendly. People love it when a company goes the extra mile to make them as welcome as possible. A baby-changing system is something every parent will appreciate. Along with installing a quality, sturdy baby changing unit, be sure to set up an effective waste disposal system. Make sure you include anti-bacterial supplies to ensure everyone’s safety. These are just a few ways to make your business family-friendly, which will go a long way to retaining your existing customers and attracting new ones.

It is common knowledge in the eCommerce market that the cost of acquiring a customer exceeds the cost of retaining one. Customer retention is of the most important variables that formulate the user base of your store, and thus, it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Getting your customer retention rate to go up simply means making sure your business excels in the digital market. But the main question is how to improve customer retention. The exact steps your business needs to take to improve retention depend upon the type of industry and the value proposition of the product or service. However, as a general rule of thumb, when businesses offer personalized feeds to their customers and let them design and order personalized products online with an online design tool, they are more likely to return. Customers want to feel valued, be it on their first time visiting your site, or many moons after. Providing them with a sense of uniqueness via personalization makes them feel validated, cared for, and cherished – which then results in brand loyalty. Table of Contents What is customer retention in e-commerce? What is good customer retention? Strive for Retention, Not Just Acquisition: 12 Tips on How to Succeed 1. Focus on the Onboarding Process 2. Offer a Bargain & Free Samples 3. Think of Marketing as a Continuous Process 4. Always Value Customer Feedback 5. Retain Customers with Target Offers 6. Reward Customers Who Return 7. Plan for Customer Service 8. Think Beyond the e-Store 9. Invest In Conversion Optimization 10. Use Email Marketing to Your Advantage 11. Everyone Loves Freebies! 12. Stay Relevant with Content Conclusion What is customer retention in e-commerce? Customer retention in e-commerce refers to the ability of an online store to retain its existing customers over a period of time. It focuses on cultivating long-term relationships with customers, moving them through the ecommerce sales funnel seamlessly and ensuring they continue to make repeat purchases. Customer retention involves strategies and efforts aimed at maximizing customer satisfaction, fostering loyalty, and encouraging customers to choose the online store over competitors. It is a critical metric for the success of an e-commerce business as it directly impacts revenue, profitability, and overall growth. What is good customer retention? Good customer retention refers to a high rate of customer satisfaction and loyalty, resulting in a significant number of customers staying engaged with a business over an extended period. It is characterized by customers repeatedly choosing to do business with a company, making frequent purchases, and demonstrating loyalty to the brand. Good customer retention is typically reflected in metrics such as high customer lifetime value (CLV), low customer churn rate, and positive customer feedback and referrals. It indicates that the business has effectively met and exceeded customer expectations, built strong relationships, and provided ongoing value to its customer base. To enhance customer retention, businesses must continually innovate and offer fresh experiences. One effective strategy is to create new products by embracing the versatility of print-on-demand services. Strive for Retention, Not Just Acquisition: 12 Tips on How to Succeed Aiming for customer retention ensures that there is a plan in place after your customer lands on your site. This means from the landing page to the displayed products, to the checkout tab – the user journey is smooth and hassle-free. Add a personalized touch by putting the right products in Infront of the customer, investing in cross-selling, and up-selling, as well as focusing mostly on customer experience. Make sure that your customers get a self-optimizing recommendation engine that stays relevant, and updated to minimize time wastage. Additionally, staying relevant to the needs of your customers helps businesses retain more of their user base. Here are some additional tips to increase customer retention: 1. Focus on the Onboarding Process When a new customer lands on your site, within the next 30 seconds or so they are most likely to decide whether or not they are interested in your brand. This is why having an engaging and exciting landing page can make all the difference in improving customer retention. No customer wants to see sold-out items, or irrelevant products on the main page. Show them what matters to them, why they should purchase the item, and how to place an order. By focusing on their needs and providing a seamless user experience, you can greatly improve customer retention and foster long-term loyalty. 2. Offer a Bargain & Free Samples With each product purchase, try to give your customers something extra like a tester, or a special discount. Encourage your customers to repeatedly purchase your products by giving them discount codes for their next purchase or sample products to ensure they return. Get creative and think of your own way of giving more. As you'll see from websites like Coupon Ninja, the discounts offered by companies are often quite considerable. Ideally, you should conduct research on the offers prepared by your competitors and one-up them to attract more customers. 3. Think of Marketing as a Continuous Process If a customer has purchased a product already, your business now has more of a reason to encourage them to purchase from you again. Enroll your customer list in win-back campaigns that remind them of the product they are missing out on, and how you’ve got a product in stock that’s just for them. Keep your audience continuously engaged. And use e-commerce analytics to measure the reach of your marketing strategies. 4. Always Value Customer Feedback Some online stores show feedback on their products, and there are a million ways you can use it to your advantage. Showcase good reviews and testimonials to retain your customers and use testimonial videos to show off the benefits of your products. Similarly, have an action plan to fix bad feedback, and aim to get the same customer to fix their feedback after the issue has been sorted. E-commerce brands can even collect feedback using QR codes on shipped products. These codes are easy to use and can be created using a QR code maker. 5. Retain Customers with Target Offers Review the purchasing history of your customers and find commonalities that can help to segment your customers. Once you find a pattern, participate in marketing or promotion strategies that encourage your customers to make a repurchase. Use PR services or hire brand ambassadors to promote your products. For example, put their preferred item in a bundle or on sale for a limited time period. Send them alerts and reminders based on the specific customer segment and see how many customers return. 6. Reward Customers Who Return Managing customer retention is a continuous process, and it takes quite a lot of back and forth to make customers truly become loyal to a brand. Introduce a loyalty program for customers that reminds them to purchase your products to be eligible for additional gifts, luxury swag items, discounts, vouchers, coupons, and more. Your customers should feel valued and should understand the value of your brand as a whole. 7. Plan for Customer Service Customer retention revolves around customer experience and taking care of all touchpoints relating to the customers. As a business, you need to think about encouraging your customer base to make a purchase as well as taking care of their queries and concerns through an In-app chat solution. Invest in AI-centric customer service and respond to customers' queries and concerns at a moment’s notice. Let the voice of your customers be heard, and use customer service to find pain areas as well. But if you plan on taking your business on a global scale, you'll quickly wrack up fees. To make your global transition more affordable, you'll need the right VoIP international call system, like OpenPhone. Even if you want to keep your business stateside, you still benefit from VoIP's other features, such as IVR, call forwarding, group messaging, and software integration. 8. Think Beyond the e-Store Assuming you’ve taken care of your customer's needs and have created a landing page, user journey, discount offers, and automation strategies that encourage customer retention – the next thing you need to plan for is delivery or shipping. Provide your customers with multiple delivery options that are according to their liking, and reduce fares whenever possible to access a wider pool audience. Speaking of which, always have a reliable international freight solution to scale operations for the international audience. Customers feel valued when you deliver their preferred products according to their timelines. You can also let them track their packages as well in real time. You can also consider investing in production planning software to optimize production as much as possible. 9. Invest In Conversion Optimization Evaluate all successful and unsuccessful purchases to find patterns and trends of what makes your audience convert, and what stands in its way. Find problem areas and characterize those cases in which the audience converted at first, but then left. Then, optimize for retention by improving the checkout experience, debugging product pages, adding relevant descriptions, improving calls to action, and using AI-based recommendations. Be flexible with the payment methods you accept and allow users to link their bank accounts. If you are an eCommerce business, consider using an extensible commerce platform, as it can integrate various payment options by providing APIs and plugins that allow merchants to connect and configure a wide range of payment gateways, including credit cards, digital wallets, and other online payment methods. Streamlining the payment checkout process can reduce cart abandonment and enhance user satisfaction. These days you can find many different types of accounts from automated payment services like PayPal or specific bank accounts for Teenagers. Take a look at the BigCommerce apps that can genuinely assist your mission of improving your customer retention. Additionally, you need to optimize your interface for different devices to maximize consistency. 10. Use Email Marketing to Your Advantage Don’t let your customers forget about you and your special offers. Send out email reminders that have special offers, informative articles regarding your products, or any premium content that they might enjoy. Remind them of what your brand offers and why they should avail of it according to their customer profile. Keep in mind not to spam but to woo! Decide the frequency of email marketing based on data insights and don’t push the customer to unsubscribe. 11. Everyone Loves Freebies! Customers admire brands that go out of their way to do something special, and word of mouth travels fast. Randomly give customers freebies and let them share their experiences on social media. If you're planning a giveaway, consider making free logos of your brand with a custom logo maker, printing them in clear stickers, and using them on the packaging. Create a genuine brand persona that loves to receive feedback and give out gifts to those who stay with the brand. Improve your value proposition and let your customers advertise your business. 12. Stay Relevant with Content There are other ways of retaining your customers other than reminding them to purchase your products. Don’t offer your customers just one angle, instead, offer value in terms of information. Depending upon your business model and the type of products or services you sell, create engaging content. Share information, tutorials, updates, hacks, DIYs, tips, and more with your customers to stay relevant to their needs. Customer retention comes naturally if customers' needs for product value and personalization are being met. Therefore, simply focusing on improving your eCommerce store gets you half of the way! Conclusion Improving customer retention is crucial for the long-term success of your online store. By implementing the tips discussed in this blog, such as providing exceptional customer service, personalizing the shopping experience, and incentivizing loyalty, you can build strong relationships with your customers. Remember, loyal customers, not only generate repeat business but also act as brand ambassadors, attracting new customers to your online store. Prioritize customer retention strategies, and watch your online store thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Being productive when working remotely can be challenging if you are underprepared without the right tools to help your business. In addition, it would disrupt coordination between internal teams on tasks and cause problems around collaboration for meetings, performance reviews, and planning for existing and newer projects.   Fortunately, with the fast-paced evolution of digital technology, there are multiple remote working tools for you and your teams to explore. This article lists the most recommendable and dependable remote working tools that will help ensure uninterrupted and sustained productivity.Let's check them out! Top remote working tools for teams in 2025 Remote Working Tools 1. Fyle 2. Troop Messenger 3. Zoom 4. Slack 5. Hive 6. Daylite 7. Time Doctor 8. Podcastle 9. Weje 10. TimeCamp 11. nTask 12. Krisp 13. Teamwork Fyle   Does your remote workforce struggle with reporting their expenses on time? If so, you should check out Fyle, a cloud-based expense management software. The tool has features like a receipt scanner, expense tracking from everyday apps, automatic credit card reconciliation, and a robust policy engine that can simplify the entire expense management process.   With Fyle, employees can use the receipt scanning app to capture and convert paper receipts into digital expense reports for seamless submissions. For digital invoices, employees can track and report their expenses via Slack, Gmail, and Outlook add-ons. Finance teams also do not need to spend hours reconciling their credit card expenses manually. Instead, Fyle automatically reconciles every credit card spend with the transaction details without manual intervention. The expense report tool also comes with a real-time policy engine that audits every expense at the source of expense creation. With Fyle, both your employees and Finance teams can collaborate on expense management tasks to close the reimbursement cycle on time.   Price: Fyle’s pricing plan starts at $4.99/ month for Standard plan users, $8.99/ month for Business plan users, and custom pricing for Enterprise plan users. Troop Messenger   Troop Messenger is a widely trusted remote collaboration tool by the Military, Governments, and business enterprises for exchanging work conversations in a secure environment. It helps office teams to stay connected via multi-platforms from anywhere, any device, and at any time through text conversations, HD audio-video calls, remote screen share, and control, face-to-face online work meetings, and other time-saving work productive features.   Besides letting project teams engage in unlimited virtual business meetings, Troop Messenger’s group audio-video calling and conferencing provides an additional feature for developers, the Jointly-code, where a group of coders simultaneously write and edit code. The users of Troop Messenger can take control of the remote desktop, where they can access files and edit them. Being a participant in the remote screen share, you don't have to request host approval for sharing the contents of your screen. In addition, it allows unlimited participants in the group call.   Pricing: Troop Messenger comes with an enterprise free trial for one month, premium at $2.5 per user/per month, and Enterprise at $ 5 per user/per month. Also, it is planning to bring a free plan for small teams at $0/per user/per month soon! Zoom   Zoom is a widely- popular video conferencing tool that can help remote workers connect over HD video calls and webinars. Zoom’s video call feature has screen-sharing capabilities to help remote teams conduct detailed and engaging meetings. In addition, businesses can also use it to host group meetings and 1x1s with team members. You can also record sessions and search transcripts for easy access and documentation. Zoom also comes with cloud storage for video recordings that you can share with the rest of the team.   Hosting webinars is also straightforward with the video conferencing tool. With Zoom, you can host up to 10,000 attendees and broadcast the webinars to social media. To keep the audience engaged, you can also use interactive features like polls and chat.   Pricing: Zoom has a free plan that supports up to 100 participants. Their paid versions start at $14.99/month per host for more participants. Slack   Slack is another widely-known communication tool for remote working. Teams can create dedicated channels to discuss progress around ongoing operations, simplify workflows, and stay in sync with each other. Employees can also create separate channels to communicate and collaborate with external vendors through Slack. Remote workers can also get on a quick chat to discuss time-sensitive tasks via their huddle feature. Slack also comes with a powerful searchable feature, through which you can view discussions, easily search and find project-specific files and documents, and keep a tab on tasks. Through this communication software, teams can stay organized and keep each other in the loop no matter where they work.   Pricing: Slack has a free plan, and their paid plans start at $US2.67/month for Pro users and $US5/month for Business users. Enterprise Grid users can contact the sales team for custom pricing. Hive   Hive is a project management tool built to enhance teamwork. Using the software, remote working teams can simplify workflows for complex processes. They can also manage and oversee multiple projects using task lists, Gantt charts, Kanban boards, or calendar views. In addition, employees can track all their tasks and deadlines and manage multiple projects using the Portfolio view. Using Hive, project managers can collect and store information promptly from their employees under one platform. Employees can also tag teammates and notify them once they review and enter feedback. In addition, with the software's time tracking feature, they can keep track of how teammates are doing and make their processes more efficient.   Pricing: Hive has a free plan for up to 2 users. Their paid versions for Hive Teams start at $12/month and a custom pricing for Enterprises. Daylite   Daylite by Marketcircle is a CRM and project management tool that can improve your collaboration with remote teammates. The software helps you track and update multiple projects efficiently. In addition, it allows you to share project details, next steps, and meeting notes, delegate tasks, and help your team work better with fewer meetings and interruptions. Through the tool, you can organize all details of your projects, track project milestones, and gain visibility of the project and your teammates' schedules. As project managers, you can also assign tasks to team members, get notified once they complete the task, and set up customizable recurring tasks weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly. With Daylite, you can empower your remote team and set them up for success even when you're working from different spaces.   Pricing: Daylite is priced at ​​$39.99 per month/seat with a 30-day free trial. Time Doctor   Time Doctor is a time-tracking tool perfect for small, medium, or large organizations that function as fully or partially remote businesses. It combines a wide range of remote working tools ranging from time-tracking and project management to payroll. The payroll feature is also fully customizable, includes various payroll periods, and supports all currencies. With these features, your employees can create seamless timesheets and payroll processes. Using their time tracking feature, you can also create a summary of the time employees spent on each project, client, and task. You can use their time-tracking report to diagnose time-wasting tasks and tweak the process accordingly to improve productivity. In addition, you can ensure your estimated budgets align with your projects through their project management features. Create tasks, assign projects, and review progress – all in one place.   Pricing: Time Doctor's pricing starts at $7 per month and offers a 14-day trial package. Podcastle   Podcastle is an audio recording and editing software designed to make recording, editing, and publishing podcasts easier. Anybody with a computer or laptop can use it. Whether you're someone who's been wanting to start your own podcast but have been too intimidated by the complicated process or somebody who wants to take their existing podcasting skills up a level, Podcastle can help! Podcastle has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for beginners to create their own podcasts from start to finish in just minutes. It also has advanced features for professionals and podcast production agencies such as voice enhancement, noise reduction, and echo cancellation. You can download Podcastle on any device - your computer or laptop, tablet, phone, etc., so you'll never be without it. Podcastle also makes it easy to export your files in popular formats such as WAV or MP3 so that they can be played on any device!   Pricing: Podcastle has a free forever plan and their paid plans Storyteller and Podcastle Pro, start at $11.99 & $23.99 per month. Weje   Weje is a project management tool with team collaboration features. Easily organize different files and work on them directly on cozy boards. You can easily manage your team members, delegate tasks and drag To-dos and drop them to Dones in the Weje workspace. Share, collaborate, and enjoy results!   You can organize different diagrams like a Flowchart or methodologies as a Kanban. Here you can easily share your ideas and workflows with your team. Weje can be everything for you, a project management tool, a planner, or a solution for presentations and reporting. As a use case, you can create neat boards and present them to your investors.   Pricing: Weje has a free forever plan with Unlimited boards. To upgrade to their paid plans personal & business, which start at $4 & $7 per user/month. TimeCamp   TimeCamp is a free timesheet software that seamlessly fills the timesheets with time entries. It works in the background and automatically tracks time (and computer activities if the feature is enabled). No matter if you choose the web timer, desktop, or mobile app of a browser plugin, you can be sure the work time will be recorded accurately.   You can choose from two types of timesheets - daily, with a time entry one after another, or weekly, a chart presenting the entries of time blocks.   TimeCamp is packed with many different features to streamline daily project and time management - a unique project tree structure with unlimited projects and tasks, robust reporting with preset and custom reports, attendance management with timesheet approvals, and many more. It also allows you to generate invoices based on tracked time and send them straight to your clients.   Pricing: TimeCamp offers a free plan and their paid plans with advanced features start at $5.25 per user per month, billed annually.   nTask   nTask is a robust project management and productivity tool used by remote teams to plan, analyze, manage, and collaborate on everyday tasks. The platform helps individuals and teams to create multiple workspaces, and add team members to them for collaboration on work. Business creates separate workspaces for each department and project giving the ability to store everything in one place. The top nTask features include; Kanban Boards, Gantt charts, Project management, to-do list, team communication, and meeting note-keeping. Team members can tag other people in the workspace for task assignments, set due dates, give priorities, and track time spent on each task. It enables the remote teams to share comments, send files, and get real-time notifications and alerts. The software can be used for issue tracking, risk management, and as a CRM to manage the contact details of clients.   Pricing: nTask has a free plan for up to 5 users. The Premium plan is at $3/user per month, and the Business plan is at $8/user per month. There is also an Enterprise custom plan available.  Krisp   Krisp is a trusted tool for remote teams that helps improve virtual team communication and have more productive meetings. It offers enterprise team solutions for companies in different industries and sizes. Krisp is meant to reduce noise and cancel any voice distractions during virtual meetings as well as conferences. Even if you want to cancel noises such as dogs barking or kids screaming, the platform has solutions for everything.   The Krisp technology is based on AI and powered by a deep neural network. How does it work? It simply adds an extra protection layer between your physical microphone/speaker and conferencing apps. Moreover, the platform is private and safe meaning that it won’t collect any voice data. Krisp also offers solutions for contact centers so that they can provide better customer service, solve issues with confidence, and avoid any background noise. This technology will help businesses improve their agent productivity and boost overall business growth.   Pricing: Krisp offers a Free plan for professionals working remotely sometimes. It also has a Teams plan which costs $5/user monthly and an Enterprise plan which comes with excellent security and control. Teamwork   Teamwork is a project management tool that allows you to see everything in one place so you can effortlessly manage your team, projects, clients, and freelancers. Teamwork has all the advanced features you need from time tracking to budgeting to resource allocation. It doesn’t matter if you’re working from home or the office, Teamwork gives you everything you need to stay connected and keep communication flowing. When you’re working remotely, you need to communicate clearly and concisely. Remove the need for email by keeping all project communications in one place through instant chat.   Organized document sharing allows you to capture ideas, take notes, add comments on docs, and collaborate easily with real-time editing with Notebooks. Integrate all your favorite tools you’re already using, so you can run everything in one place. Maximize your time by automating your workflows and cutting out repetitive tasks. Pricing: Teamwork has a free plan for individuals and small teams getting started with project management. The Deliver plan starts at €10 per user per month, and Grow plan is at €18 per user per month. There is also a Scale custom plan available. Start your free 30-day trial today! Choose the right tools for your remote team today! Modern tech tools, including business productivity software, help improve existing processes, save time and money, avoid burnout, and increase employee morale. By selecting the right productivity business software for your team, you can establish strong and clear communication among your remote members. Leveraging the right business and productivity software ensures that your remote workforce remains productive, engaged, and efficient, even when working miles apart. Investing in the best business & productivity software can significantly enhance collaboration and streamline.

In today's digital era, businesses of all sizes are constantly seeking innovative ways to stay competitive and streamline their operations. However, the perception that cutting-edge technology solutions come with hefty price tags often deters businesses from exploring these opportunities. Fortunately, there are several surprisingly affordable tech solutions available in the market that can provide significant benefits without straining budgets. These solutions offer businesses a cost-effective means to enhance productivity, improve efficiency, and drive growth. In this article, we will explore eight such tech solutions that businesses can leverage to gain a competitive edge while keeping expenses under control. By embracing these affordable options, businesses can unlock new opportunities and thrive in the rapidly evolving technological landscape. Table of Contents What are Tech Solutions Businesses 8 Affordable Tech Solutions Businesses Can Leverage 1. AI 2. CRM 3. Project Management Tools 4. Business Intelligence Tools 5. Scheduling Tools 6. Collaboration Tools 7. Customer Service Chatbots 8. Digital signing tools Conclusion What are Tech Solutions Businesses It refers to companies that provide technology solutions or services to other businesses to help them solve specific problems, streamline processes, or enhance their operations. These solutions can include software, hardware, cloud computing, cybersecurity, website development, digital marketing, and many others. The aim of tech solutions businesses is to offer businesses cost-effective and efficient technology solutions that can help them achieve their objectives, stay competitive, and grow. Many tech solutions businesses operate in niche markets, catering to specific industries or business sizes. 8 Affordable Tech Solutions Businesses Can Leverage Here are eight affordable tech solutions that can benefit businesses: 1. AI Many businesses are starting to understand the immense benefits of on-demand artificial intelligence. The most notable advantage of AI as a service is that it considerably reduces the cost of developing an AI system. Furthermore, the pricing is tiered and straightforward, so you'll only pay for what you need.   AI as a service is also fast. AIaaS not only comes at a low cost, but it can help you save time on your AI project. The best part of this technology is that you don't even need to know how to code to get started. The platform will take care of the heavy lifting and eliminate the need for specialists to be hired and the development of sophisticated multi-level infrastructure. 2. CRM Data is a critical component of doing business, and actionable data can be found in plenty of places, including your social media, Google Analytics, business software, applications, and good CRM software. It won't be valuable, however, until it's sorted, cleaned, analyzed, and put to use.   Social media is used by businesses of all sizes, and the platforms' data are relied upon. Google Analytics is a useful tool that business owners use to track their website traffic, at least in part. You can't, however, rely solely on these tools. A CRM system allows you to dig deeper into all of your data, even data gathered from other sources.   When a firm is committed to keeping error-free data, you can use your CRM platform to collect, tabulate, and organize it, making it easier to analyze using reporting options. This is one of the most important advantages of a CRM system, and it leads to others that become available once you have useful data. 3. Project Management Tools One of the main advantages of flexible and multipurpose project management software is that it lets managers keep track of project costs and ensure they don't spiral out of control. Those in charge of the budget may view costs in real-time and uncover areas where too much money is being spent thanks to the quantitative proof that PM tools provide. You can see things like which employee has done what and for how many hours.   Having this information can help managers make better judgments in the future, from adjustments to how hours are distributed to what attention is placed and where on different aspects of the project. It can be easy to ignore the significance of fiscal responsibility, and one of the more far-reaching benefits of utilizing a dependable project management tool is that this responsibility can always be kept front and center.   No matter your company's size, new technologies can give you the upper hand you need to overcome your competitors and increase productivity. First of all, they can help you organize your tasks better and save time. Second, they allow you to be more efficient when managing your employees' work and monitoring their progress. For example, once you find out more about FaxBurner, you can estimate how this solution could help you streamline your faxing experience. Alternatively, project management software may enable you to track how much time it takes different employees to complete their tasks and efficiently manage even the most complex projects 4. Business Intelligence Tools Employees may monitor KPIs using a range of data sources, including financial, operations, and sales data, by utilizing templates or customized reports. These reports are prepared in real time and employ the most up-to-date data, allowing organizations to make swift decisions. Graphs, tables, and charts are commonly used in reports to make them easier to understand. Some BI software reports are interactive, allowing users to experiment with different factors or get data more quickly.   Businesses can assess employee productivity, income, overall success, and department-specific performance with these valuable business data. Because BI tools allow firms to identify what's working and what isn't, they tend to be great at revealing strengths and flaws in workflows. Setting up alerts is simple and may assist busy executives in keeping track of the KPIs that are most important to their company. 5. Scheduling Tools One of the most helpful advantages of scheduling software is that it keeps everyone on the same page. A solid, basic scheduling system allows companies to monitor schedules for individuals or groups of employees, and it can handle an endless number of shift plans, patterns, and rotations to account for all of a company's diverse scheduling conditions. The solution should be able to handle any cycle duration, and schedules should be programmable to be duplicated or repeated indefinitely.   Scheduling tools are also important to help minimize scheduling conflicts. It allows employees to access their schedules on the Internet or call an automated phone system that is updated in real-time since the information is all in one place. When employees change shifts, paper timesheets may be confusing and inconvenient. It can be hard to keep track of the new schedule, as well as whether or not the employee was given the authorization to switch shifts. 6. Collaboration Tools While face-to-face collaboration is ideal, it is not always possible for team members to be present at the same time and in the same location, especially in today's world of remote and hybrid work. Collaboration software enables individuals in various locations to exchange material in a variety of formats, including documents, messages, videos, and other media.   Efficient and quick communication should take the form of a conversation rather than emails, which are easily disregarded, build up, and difficult to locate. Slack, Troop Messenger, Cisco Spark, and Hive are examples of collaboration platforms that are widely used, and affordable and have helped businesses around the world stay in touch and collaborate over the last two years.   Collaboration tools also help with better planning. Lack of planning wastes a tremendous amount of an employee's working day. Businesses that plan and organize their goals and operations achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness. Teams can properly arrange their operations by using daily, weekly, and monthly scheduling. Employees can, for example, use public or personal calendars to keep track of all meetings and deadlines using collaboration tools. 7. Customer Service Chatbots Chatbots can help your business by giving it a face when clients first interact with you on your website. For many people, a chatbot is their first point of contact with a company, and well-designed ones can come off as far more personal than an email or phone conversation.   A chatbot interaction has a significant impact on the user experience and is a fundamental aspect of how a customer views the conversation and, subsequently, your business. Numerous aspects, such as your corporate identity, the duties the bot is expected to accomplish, or the preferences of your target group, play an important part in developing a chatbot personality that matches your organization.   Unlike traditional customer support, a chatbot is available 24 hours a day, every day of the week. Even on weekends and late at night, a bot is there to at least acknowledge your customers. The number of requests a chatbot can handle is virtually limitless, and a bot can easily handle all of them at once without losing steam or losing track.   And if your chatbot is unable to respond to a user's inquiry, the user can be redirected to a human employee. Outside of business hours, customers can leave a note for customer care to respond to via email the next business day. 8. Digital signing tools Digital signing tools benefit both businesses and their stakeholders. Companies get a solution that helps them reduce manual work, ensure regulatory compliance, and improve document security. On the other hand, customers, employees, and partners get a convenient signing experience by being able to sign documents from anywhere and on any device. Nowadays, organizations across various industries rely on digital signing solutions to automate complex signing processes that involve multiple documents and signers. Naturally, this allows them to save time and ultimately improve efficiency. But without a doubt, the main advantage of digital signatures is that they are far more secure than traditional pen and paper signatures. They not only verify the identity of the signers but also ensure that no changes have been made to the document after signing. Therefore, they are impossible to forge and are just as legal as traditional signatures in the eyes of the law. Conclusion Technology doesn't have to be expensive to bring significant benefits to businesses. The eight affordable tech solutions discussed in this blog post provide SMEs with opportunities to enhance productivity, streamline operations, improve customer relationships, and protect their valuable data. By leveraging these tech solutions, businesses can stay competitive, drive growth, and thrive in the digital era. So, don't let budget constraints hold you back, explore these surprisingly affordable tech solutions and unlock your business's full potential.

Outsourced teams and third parties are used by companies across industries all over the world. There are plenty of compelling reasons for them to seek out trustworthy partners to assist them in developing a product, developing a new service, or improving their present performance.   The financial component of outsourcing, however, is almost always the primary motivation for doing so, along with expertise that you may not have in-house. As you grow, you will need to decide what to do in-house and what to contract out to a third party. With that said, below are some of the important business functions to outsource as you scale and grow. Table of Contents 1. Social Media 2. SEO 3. Web Design 4. Digital Marketing 5. Customer Service 6. IT In conclusion  1. Social Media Experienced social specialists can deliver unbelievable outcomes for your organization like you would engage an SEO expert to boost your search rankings or a sales rep to complete more deals. It can be common to hear inexperienced business owners mistakenly state that social media is an "easier" medium and that every marketer can handle it. Given the importance of social media in terms of lead generation and client retention, you can't afford to ignore it or entrust it to inexperienced hands.   Outsourcing your social media helps you do two things, first and foremost. It lets you examine your present social presence for potential flaws, and it helps you produce or increase specific results (e.g., more leads, quicker responses, and more brand recognition).   Another advantage of social media outsourcing is the ability to use some really effective digital marketing tools. Premium analytics, reporting, and advertising solutions are generally out of reach for smaller businesses. This is due to the fact that they need either a large expenditure or specialized skills to handle it.   Agencies, on the other hand, rely on powerful solutions like Sprout Social to help their customers develop. In a way, when you work with an agency, those tools become "yours." As you grow, outsourcing things like social media becomes a viable way to leverage powerful tech that you might not have the capital for at the moment because it is tied up elsewhere. 2. SEO There are many reasons why small businesses should outsource their SEO. One reason is that it can be very time-consuming to do SEO yourself. Another reason is that it can be challenging to keep up with the constantly changing algorithms of search engines. A third reason is that an experienced SEO agency can provide a higher level of service than most small businesses could provide on their own. Agencies like Online Marketing Gurus' marketing services are designed to help small businesses improve their online visibility and attract more customers. 3. Web Design Every initiative, from startups to veteran companies, has a budget, and budgets have constraints. If you need to minimize costs in order to meet your business objectives as you grow, outsourcing or nearshoring in Poland or the other countires is often an excellent option.   When it comes to web design, the hourly prices of developers in different places might vary significantly. For example, in the United States, you might find you are paying $150 per hour, but in Eastern Europe, you can find people who will do the same work for $35-$50 per hour. That's without sacrificing quality. Did you know that Poland has some of the top developers in the world?   Outsourcing provides you access to programmers, UX/UI designers, project managers, and creatives all around the world who can help you complete your project. They will help create custom logos, achieve customer success through design, and work on your brand elements. To put together a team like that, you'd have to spend a lot of time and money recruiting the proper people, onboarding them, and putting together a real team out of people who had never worked together before. Recruiting the right IT professionals can take months, and the average time for recruitment procedures throughout the world is increasing.   Even the smallest businesses nowadays require a good-looking website that also operates smoothly, and you cannot expect to achieve this without the help of design and marketing specialists.   Many web designers and marketing specialists use website design tools because Web design is about more than just creating a storefront for your company that customers can visit from anywhere in the world; it's also about building your brand and establishing a trustworthy reputation that will create positive associations in the minds of your customers and provide you with the means to realize your branding goals. Setting this up and maintaining it on a regular basis is time-consuming and requires expertise that a lot of businesses don't have in-house. 4. Digital Marketing Staffing issues or yearly leave can affect your marketing. Consistency is one of the cornerstones of effective marketing, and people need time off to recharge and get back to productive work. Of course, the difficulty is that marketers aren't robots; they're humans, and people need to rest. Marketing suffers when employees are ill or on leave or when a major, all-hands-on-deck internal event puts everything else off course.   Content creation is an excellent illustration of this. You can't just stop blogging for a few weeks around the holidays. If you do this, Google will notice, and your organic search rankings will suffer as a result. When you hire an agency, you won't have to worry about staffing shortages or delivery gaps. That is, to put it frankly, their issue.   You are provided with the services of a group of professionals. Instead of paying a single person's salary, you'll hire a team of digital marketing specialists to study, plan, and implement effective marketing strategies. Essentially, you are paying for outcomes, and it is much less expensive than hiring an employee. 5. Customer Service There are enough managers to tackle every customer service issue, whether you're a small startup or a giant corporation! In addition, try integrating chat APIs in your business websites and mobile apps help you provide great customer service.   By outsourcing customer service to a reliable call center or comprehensive services provider, you can ensure that this vital aspect of your company is well-managed and supported to handle both minor difficulties and difficult situations. This frees up your own management to focus on other matters, allowing you to make better use of your human resources. It's just a shrewd use of your capital as you grow. You can also incorporate things like chatbots which, while not outsourcing per se, can be considered part of a larger cost-saving and UX automation strategy.   To a large number of businesses, outsourcing customer support seems almost like cheating. For years, their leaders have been taught that this must be kept close to the breast in order to be effective. The truth is that when done well, it's just good business. It provides your company with low-cost access to highly trained personnel. Take note of that combination! Not simply one or the other, but both highly talented and cost-effective. 6. IT One of the most unexpected advantages of IT outsourcing is that it may save you money. Because IT workloads may be extremely varied, in-house IT staff can be very expensive to acquire and train, and they may not be used properly. You get the help you need when you need it by choosing staff augmentation services or outsourcing your IT to a managed service provider, and you only pay for the services you utilize. Finally, the best IT outsourcing agencies can help you save money and budget more successfully for your company.   A managed service provider understands how to make your company work more smoothly. You may have state-of-the-art technology to help you run more effectively and keep up with your peers and competition by helping you restructure workflows, automate jobs, and upgrade equipment. Conclusion  Saving money isn't simply a good idea; it's a must for growing businesses if they are to make the best use of their available capital and execute a successful growth strategy.   This is critical as you grow, especially if you are growing alongside competitors who are trying to outcompete you on price. Fortunately, this is where outsourcing may help you save a lot of money. Outsourcing frees up cash by transforming fixed (and sometimes substantial) outgoings into variable or lesser costs. Keep the above business functions in mind as you grow and put together your outsourcing plan based on a solid cost-benefit analysis.