Small businesses form an extremely large and vital part of every economy. In the United States, it is estimated that 99% of all commerce is comprised of small businesses operating in all industry sectors. If you own a small business, you will fully understand that it can be challenging to remain competitive and profitable in the current economic climate. Inflation levels still remain high across most developed countries, which can increase the cost of raw materials and product components. Inevitably these costs will need to be passed on to the end consumer, which can have a detrimental effect on sales volumes. In addition, the world of small business takes place on an international scale in 2023. This is due to the exponential growth of the internet, which has allowed millions of companies to offer goods and services for sale in an online marketplace. Small businesses must therefore compete to a level that was not required only a decade ago. If you are a small business owner who has successfully navigated the first few years of trading, it is likely that you will be looking to foster growth in your business to secure its future. In this article, some key ways to achieve this will be explored. 

Customer loyalty programs

 

One of the key ways to ensure growth and longevity in your small business is to retain existing customers and reduce customer churn. While it is valuable to attract new customers, it is also vital to encourage existing customers to make repeat purchases so that you can benefit from a regular stream of income that can drive improved growth. Retaining customers can be achieved by looking to instigate a range of customer loyalty programs. A common but effective method is to create a points based scheme for customers. Put simply, when a customer makes a purchase from your website or store, they will be credited with a number of points. Generally, the higher the value of the goods they purchase, the more points they will receive. These points can be accrued over a number of separate purchases before being used as a full or part payment of a subsequent purchase. This is motivating for the customer as they will choose to use your company for future purchases as they will enjoy being able to save credit to fund payment of a subsequent item.

Improve your IT with external assistance

Many small businesses have a small but dedicated team of IT staff. These workers will be able to manage the company website and set up IT systems and infrastructure for other staff members to use in their daily tasks. However, it is common that small businesses may lack suitably qualified and knowledgeable IT professionals that can focus on complex tasks such as migrating services to the cloud, improving cybersecurity, and allowing global trade to take place smoothly and efficiently. These tasks can be instrumental in allowing a business to achieve sustained growth but may not be able to be accomplished with your existing IT team. In these instances, it is beneficial to seek the expert help of an external IT specialist to make the necessary changes and IT improvements. In the UK, you can find a Cardiff IT company that will be able to accomplish these key tasks to improve your IT infrastructure and modernize your business systems. A key benefit of outsourcing this type of improvement work is that you only hire the staff until the job is completed, so wage costs remain low. In addition, you benefit from access to a team of highly trained specialists who are well-versed in complex IT improvements.

Use analytics for informed business planning

As a final example of key ways to achieve business growth, business analytics should be considered. In 2023, companies can utilize a wide range of software applications and business intelligence platforms to drive their decision-making. You can see some of the best analytics platforms here. Business intelligence and analytics applications can take high-volume data from a range of sources and combine it. Complex analysis is then performed on the data to gain meaningful information, statistics, and reports. This information can then be used to make decisions that shape the future direction and strategy of your small business. The key benefit of using analytics to drive business planning and decision-making is that real-world data from your company is used to provide the insights. This is proven to be a far more effective way to make informed decisions and can help a business achieve growth over the long term.

Excited to buy your very own personalized registration but not sure where to begin when it comes to choosing one? Offering a highly effective way to make your vehicle stand out from the crowd, there are so many creative personalized plates for you to choose from. 

If you need a little help choosing the perfect personalized registration for your car, then the below top tricks and techniques are just what you need. 

• Determine your budget

The first thing you need to do when choosing a personalized number plate is to determine how much you are willing to spend. You can find vanity plates for as little as a few hundred dollars, but you can also spend hundreds of thousands on personalized luxury plates if you want to do so. 

Therefore, it is important that you work out how much you are willing and can afford to spend before you start looking for plates. 

• Consider the longevity 

If you are going to spend a lot of money on a personalized number plate, then you want to make sure it will last you a long time. While there are always trends in personalized plates, it is a much better idea to choose a timeless and classic registration that will not go out of fashion. 

Ideally, you should look for a plate that reflects something you love, such as your favorite sports team or pastime. 

• Utilize phonetics 

When it comes to all things personalised registrations, the use of phonetics has always been popular, enabling you to create a truly memorable plate for your vehicle. This is a particularly good technique if you want to incorporate certain letters that represent numbers in your plate. 

For example, the letter Z can be used to represent the number 2, or the letter L can be used to represent the number 1. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your choice of personalized number plate, as there is nothing wrong with standing out from the crowd! 

• Adhere to regulations 

The issuing of private number plates is highly regulated, so you need to make sure that you do your research beforehand and that you only purchase a personalized number plate from a reputable seller. 

You can find out about the laws governing private number plates in your state on the DMV website, or you can contact a private seller for more assistance and guidance. 

• Consider your needs

What do you want from a private number plate? Do you want to express your personality? Make your vehicle stand out? Promote your business? 

When choosing a personalized registration for your vehicle, you need to make sure that you think carefully about what it is that you want to achieve before you start looking. Not only will this cut down the time it takes to find your perfect plate, but it will also help you to make better use of your budget. 

And there you have it – 5 top tips for choosing a personalized registration for your vehicle. Good luck and happy shopping! 

For everything that exists on the internet, making sure that all information is secure is an endless endeavor.

This is true for VoIP as well. And considering the amount of information that goes into a VoIP system, keeping your network secure is very important.

Why security will always be a concern

Security isn’t a set target. Hackers and other actors with bad intentions are always looking for ways to do some form of damage. This may not necessarily be in terms of getting into your system. There are other means by which they can cause disruption.

Like how you’re protecting your home with a security system or even with locks, you should also practice that same level of vigilance with your VoIP system.

Just during the first six months of 2019, 4.1 billion records were made public without the consent of their owners. Meanwhile, a great majority of the hacks that happen today have some kind of financial motivation behind them.

Any kind of security breach will have a negative impact on your enterprise. If it involves the 

security of your customers’ information, their trust would dwindle as well.

Therefore, knowing the threats that abound and how you can protect your business from them should always be one of your key priorities.

What risks are you protecting your VoIP system from?

Regardless of the phone system you go with, there will always be risks. For VoIP, here are some of them:

    1.Eavesdropping

Hackers could literally be listening to the calls you’re making using VoIP. This could be used to steal information (whether yours, your employees’, or your customers’).  How they’d use their gathered information could vary. But as with any kind of theft, it’s easier if they have a lot more information to work with.

      2. Phishing

This doesn’t just happen when you click a malicious link and type in your password. It could also happen over calls.

In the case of an enterprise, someone could pretend to be a customer or a potential client. They could try to earn the trust of one of your agents to eventually give out sensitive information that wouldn’t have been given under normal circumstances.

       3.Denial of Service (DoS)

The hackers overwhelm your system to the point that it couldn’t function anymore. They’ll initiate so many calls that all or a lot of your internet bandwidth would be used up.

Even if they don’t succeed in shutting you down, they may still be able to compromise the quality of the calls you make.

At worst, they may even gain administrative access and extract sensitive data.

There are many more ways by which your system could be compromised. That’s you can never let your guard down.

What can you do to minimize your exposure to these risks?

Protecting yourself from these risks requires your constant attention. To start, here are a few things that you can do:

       1. Ensure data encryption

The easiest way to go about this is by choosing telecom providers like Telnum that offer high-level encryption with everything that they sell.

Buying virtual numbers isn’t just about looking for the best deal, financially speaking. The reputation of the company you’re going to implicitly trust with sensitive information is even more important.

For more comprehensive protection, encryption may also be obtained using cybersecurity services.

    2.Use secure passwords with two-factor authentication

The easiest way to get into any restricted system is through the front door. That’s why even today, there are a lot of phishing scams.

But you can prevent that by using only secure passwords. Make it even harder for them to get in by using two-factor authentication. Ideally, you’d verify your login using a number or an email address that’s not connected to other online accounts.

     3. Monitor your system

Even if you think there’s nothing suspicious going on, you should still look at call logs. This would let you establish in your head what’s the norm.

So when there’s an actual anomaly needing your attention, it would be much easier for you to detect.

The good thing about this monitoring is it also doubles as a way to check employee performance. You can look at the top performers and perhaps integrate into your training what you think they’re doing right.

At the same time, you’d be able to see poor performers and even retrain them so their performance would improve.

     4. Use encrypted networks

If you’re all in the same office, you could start by setting up WPA2 on the office WiFi. This is very easy to do but could still improve protection.

If you have remote staff, buy a VPN for them to use during their shift.

Your security is determined largely by you. By taking these measures, you’re protecting your enterprise from the worst.