Millennial refers to the population aged between 18 and 34. This makes up the largest chunk of mobile users, i.e. 85%. Thus technology consumption is the highest in this generation and CRM software can help brands to generate profit from this generation.

Social media is a powerful tool. Social media details are becoming more lucrative than communication methods and CRM stores these social media details in one place. It is a well known fact that almost all social media users search for product information and news from brands and also communicate with brands on social network. Most popular social media platforms are Facebook and Instagram.

Real time behavioral tools generate deeper insights into consumers’ purchasing pattern. These tools nowadays are available with CRM software. Real time data help to target precisely and also improves customer satisfaction.

Improving customer service is the key to success.  CRM software helps to track communications between customer and customer representatives and thus helps in resolving complaints promptly. 

To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/3-ways-to-use-crm-to-target-millennials-74198

Content marketing when synced with CRM (customer relationship management) system increases profit throughout each phase of the sales cycle. There are 3 ways in which, uniting content marketing and CRM systems can generate higher sales.

1.       The case studies, applications and the customer testimonies provided by content marketing pieces bridges the gap between indecisions and confirmation of the customers.

2.       It is also important to keep updating the customers through recent customer successes, trade articles, new customer wins, product innovations, and the latest research. This results in portraying the company in front of the customer in a passive and informative way.

3.       The CRM systems should be used to let the sales department know when a new piece of content marketing is published. This closes down the gap between sales and marketing.

Thus content marketing plays a crucial role that helps to generate insight of a customer and ultimately creating a valuable partnership with the business. To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/3-ways-crm-can-help-you-close-sales-with-content-marketing-74186

Many a times start-ups fail due to internal communication problems or lack of knowledge on work processes. Here customer relationship management (CRM) systems have an important role to play to manage and promote early growth of the businesses. Here are a few advantages of a CRM system for a start-up business:-

1. Access to automation process by an integrated CRM system saves time and money.

2. CRM is a beneficial tool for marketing as it can handle email marketing communications, following up with sales leads and continuing to promote the messages of the business.

3. CRM enables to tailor the data and make meaningful analysis for the businesses.

4. CRM provides a personalised first-class customer experience that makes a start-up unique from others.

To continue the business in the long run it is very important to have a service system that provides automation process, stores customer information and improves marketing efforts.

To read more follow: - http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/4-reasons-crm-systems-work-for-startups-74141

 To keep the data in electric form is much easier as it does not require physical space. Here are a few ways to keep a safe backup of business data:-

1.  USB flash storage is small gadgets and thus very useful to carry around big business data.

2. A hard drive provides a huge amount of storage, but they can easily break down when not handled properly.

3. Cloud storage is the most recently introduced storage options. It also provides large storage space and doesn’t require high IT knowledge.

4. A solid state drive is a revolutionary technology that offers incredibly high data transfer speeds.

5.A Great option for backing up data is the establishment of a local network. This makes backing up process fast, easy and secure. To use a combination of these solutions is the best way to keep the data safe and secure. To read more follow:-1.     http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/keeping-your-data-safe-5-available-storage-solutions-for-your-business-74118

In recent times game designing has become a very demanding job. Here are a few things required to be a good game designer:-

 Essential skills include basic knowledge of coding, solving problems and a have great encyclopaedic knowledge (i.e. they should be aware of different cultures, religions and philosophies).

Good communication skills are of utmost importance in this job. Collaborating and cooperating with teammates it is very important. The game designer is a mediator between the graphic designers and the story writers. Thus, it is essential to respect their ideas and vision.

Learning to take negative feedback is the key to success. The audience is the real judge of the game so their opinions about the game, whether positive or negative, should be taken sportingly.

Having a deeper insight into game mechanics is also crucial. It is important to know what elements are loved by people and which elements are to be avoided.

To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/things-you-need-to-be-a-good-game-designer-74105

Nowadays social influencers are replacing word-of-mouth recommendations as it goes far beyond the typical CRM functionality to add in social network streams, messages and mentions to customer data. It is essential to have detailed information about the influencer. This may include the frequency used hashtags, style of recommending products, brands they promote and company mentions. To make a note of each influencer is the best way to approach the individual and track conversations with them. It is very important to coordinate with the influencer by tracking initial messages, follow-ups and other significant events. It is vital to know whether the influencer is positive, negative or neutral about a topic by analyzing the content for the overall sentiment towards the brand, competitors and products. CRMs must handle the process of influencer targeting in real time as it shows the impact of active marketing campaigns on brand awareness and sentiment. Businesses may also find an influencer among their customers. Connecting social CRM with influencer marketing will definitely prove beneficial for the businesses. To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/how-to-use-social-crm-for-influencer-marketing-74109

Before implementation of a process it is very important to identify your ERP requirements. All ERP systems have different strengths and weaknesses and thus a package must be chosen which minimizes the business weaknesses. It is necessary to choose a system which lets us pay only for the functions needed now and easily adds modules in the future. Even scalability plays a crucial role as some ERP packages are designed in such a way that it is easy to scale by adding users or functions. The level of support provided needs consideration as ongoing support is required once the system is in operation. Training provided to staff members also plays an important role. Thus the consultant or the vendor must be able to provide the required training. The growth and prosperity of the business depend on the soundness of the decision made about your ERP requirements. To read more follow:-http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/identifying-erp-requirements-74112

Websites are a great marketing tool for any online or offline business. Websites must be customized with proper content and tools. Good website builder is a must for creating a website. The website must have a clean design as it is much appealing to the visitors as well as easy to navigate. Websites must also be designed for mobile because nowadays most people browse using their mobile devices. Also sitemaps must be included. All important information about the business must be given to the users or customers in order to gain their confidence. To know what potential customers are searching online business may use keywords like Google AdWords Keyword Planner. The contents on the website must be shareable so that it is easier for the customers to spread the word about the businesses. To read more follow: - http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/3-features-your-small-business-website-needs-to-have-73589

Improving supply chain will result in overall efficiency and higher profitability of the businesses. The first step to do this is to get top management on board for making changes in the supply chain. The key here is a commitment from the top executives for improvement of supply chain and formulating well thought supply chain reforms. Also, if the ERP doesn’t give an insight and transparency into the flow of products within the company then changes must be made to the existing process. Information about all the phases of the supply chain, from ordering to warehousing, must be available through the ERP systems. Another important thing is traceability. This can be done accurately by maintaining a tight, close relationship with the vendors to track every product in the process. Nowadays the use of satellite transceivers on the trucks of the transportation companies is increasing. This allows the company to track the exact location of the shipment. RFID tags are also used to track individual pallets. To read more follow: - http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/improving-the-supply-chain-74053

Analytics has become much easier with the introduction of ERP. ERP nowadays includes a large no. of analytical and business intelligence tools. So this has made analysis much advanced as the emphasis in the modern ERP system is on practicality rather than comprehensiveness. But it is important to note that the businesses have to provide training to obtain the full benefits of these software. Another important thing is that business analysis must be introduced to people before the tools. Business intelligence must be an essential part of the corporate culture as BI tools gives better and more accurate information and solutions rather than a simple Excel spreadsheet. Introducing the managers to an environment of dashboards (which supplies enormous information at a glance) can simplify the analytical business culture. To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/business-analytics-and-erp-74058

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a good long term choice as it encourages business growth.

1. It optimizes business processes: - it minimizes or eliminates redundant business processes by using identical business processes for a particular task. This increases efficiency as the business can now focus on more strategic job duties.

2. It replaces robust manual back office processes by fully digital back-office functions.

3. Data driven decision making processes are important for a business to prosper.

4. Security provided by ERP solutions will minimize intrusions and data breaches

Thus we can say that ERP solutions helps to gain long-term position and the business will grow in leaps and bounds.

To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/5-ways-erp-solutions-encourage-business-growth-74045

Although visual data discovery tools give a faster insight and better exploration than traditional BI tools, these have two things in common i.e. data validation and user training. With the help of both visualization of data discovery tools and BI tools users can dig into the data with simple queries, find out patterns and trends by looking at the data graphically. Previously, there was involvement of IT in data analysis in the form of building a metadata layer of abstraction from a physical database scheme with many tables, but now the visual data discovery tools automatically models a metadata layer. It is of utmost importance to know how to use visualization effectively for data analysis. Thus, user training is still important for gaining success. Also data validation cannot be ignored because data validation policies and procedures must be applied before the data is entered into a database.To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/it-solutions/two-ways-visual-data-discovery-tools-differ-from-traditional-biand-two-ways-they-are-the-same-74024

Augmented reality depicts the user environment in real-time through photographs or maps, unlike virtual reality which sketches artificial environments. For a successful enterprise augmented reality it is of utmost importance that it is able to integrate backend enterprise systems, can be used in real-world business environment, and is able to improve reality by adding virtual means for better and clearer understanding. For the creation of enterprise augmented reality, enterprise integration plays a crucial role. Enterprise augmented reality will bring about a revolution in technology markets. To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/integrate-my-jde/what-is-augmented-reality-in-the-enterprise-73990

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is gaining popularity in recent times and the top four ERP trends are mobile ERP, social ERP, ERP integration and two tiered ERP. With the help of mobile ERP the work has become much easier as users can access their documents anywhere and anytime. The concept of social ERP is also increasing. ERP integration is helping companies to establish uniformity and consistency across several applications and platforms. Last but not the least two tiered ERP helps to improve the needs of 2 locations- the headquarter and the subsidiary. This is much cheaper than installing one homogeneous ERP system.

To read more follow:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/the-top-4-emerging-trends-on-the-erp-market-73954

Process manufacturing industries such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, chemicals etc has four unique ERP features. They are:-

1. Maintaining product quality:-An ERP application used in process industries should have a strong quality control suite.

2. Vast traceability:- Tracking raw materials as well as the final products is very important in such industries. A process manufacturing ERP is able to provide such a vast traceability.

3. Robust bill-of materials (BOM) capabilities.

4.  Good Managerial capabilities:- this forms the most essential component of any ERP application.

As process manufacturing has higher requirements and legislation the ERP application used in these should be different from other manufacturing verticals.

To read more:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/4-musthave-erp-features-for-process-industries-73956

In recent times enterprise resource planning or ERP is largely replacing manufacturing execution system or MES. But this has certain drawbacks. Thus, for better results it is important to integrate the two. There are three benefits of this integration:-

1. It helps to manage the resources more efficiently.

2. It provides detailed supply chain information.

3. It gives a comprehensive view of the business processes.

MES and ERP complement each other, performing better and more completely. The outcome of this integration is much more than expected. Read more at:- http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/3-benefits-of-integrating-erp-and-manufacturing-execution-systems-73955

Network monitoring software (NMS) is useful to increase productivity and security of business networks without increasing the workload. Few features of NMS include: monitoring the device on the network, gathering information and metrics on various devices, identifying traffic, analyzing performance, minimizing the threats related to security and alerting if any problem arises. This allows to focus more on building of network and managing the business. Freeware tools and open source software are two ways to get free network monitoring software.  Few network monitoring tools are solarwinds, ntopng, cacti, icinga, nagios core, zabbix, etc. 

On using network monitoring tools, businesses will improve their productivity and security and thus will be able to expand their networks efficiently.

To read more: http://www.business2community.com/cybersecurity/free-network-monitoring-software-organization-01600210#aTu1iyegOpdIiJWb.97

Most of companies are facing problem with big data. The top 5 Big Data problems are: - To get correct insights from the data, Data silos make it time consuming to draw conclusions from it, Unreliable data, Speedy technology, and Lack of skilled personnel. Thus, if decisions are not taken at a high pace it can affect the outcome as Big Data is fast data. The solution to the above problem is Data Integration. This allows to get deeper insight from Big Data. This will also increase the trustworthiness of the data. Now to integrate data it is of utmost importance to use clean data. This can be done by removing duplicates, verifying and updating data on a timely basis and implementing consistent data entry.

To read more follow: http://www.business2community.com/big-data/top-5-problems-big-data-solve-01597918#f8ZXhxxChp3ySQwP.97

To protect a company’s valuable data it is of utmost importance to know about cyber attacks and cyber crime. Most industrial and manufacturing firms are victims of practices such as a/c hijacking, SQLi attacks, Distributed denial of Service Attacks(DDos)and maladvertising. Thus, they should keep these 8 points in mind:-

1. Hackers steal the data primarily for monetary gains.

2. Cyber criminals are interested in debit and credit card numbers.

3.  Instead of internet they access Darknet(also known as deep web) so that they do not leave any digital footprint behind.

4. Companies make huge losses due to these cyber attacks.

5. All the company data must be protected by purchasing breach insurance and by using cloud storage.

6. Companies can take prevention by training staff members on basic and critical policies.

7. Efforts must be made in the field of cyber security. This can be done by identifying the baseline( i.e., identify normal network activity before an intrusion). This is helpful as it makes the identification of attack vector easier and also helps to improve the data security.

8. New threats keep evolving.

By keeping these points in mind company can take prevention against the unfortunate cyber crimes or network breaches to some extent. To read more follow: - http://www.business2community.com/cybersecurity/cyber-attacks-8-things-company-need-know-01601714#WhGV91IDu2rTGu9V.97

There are three reasons why specialized CRM must be implemented in business. They are: - 1.It requires less customisation. 2. Provides a more intuitive explanation. This is truly beneficial in case where the industry requires a deeper insight into their customer behaviour and thus improving their products. 3. Expertise in the industry plays a key role when selecting the CRM platform.

Thus, vertical CRM solutions can be considered as a boon to industries looking for an innovative idea to grow and prosper. To read more, follow: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/vertical-crm-systems-and-your-business-3-reasons-to-consider-a-specialized-crm-implementation-73898