Manufacturing industries have been taking advantage of cloud and cloud based applications a lot lately to improve their operations. The focus is on ERP or enterprise resource planning tools that can help them. ERP increases efficiencies and reduce costs. In addition to this, here are some other ways by which manufacturing can grow using ERP:

·         Gain Control of Your Inventory

·         Access Real-Time Information

·         Multilocation Management

·         Access to Big Data

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/4-ways-cloud-erp-enables-manufacturing-growth-73260

Technology has been leaving a mark on every possible sector. It has digitized and revolutionized the way of working in every single field of work. Similarly e-learning hasn’t left untouched with its magic. Here are some latest trends and innovations for 2016 and beyond:

·         Flash to HTML5 Conversion

·         Cloud

·         Personalization

·         Gamification

·         Mobile Learning

·         Multi-device Learning

·         Wearable eLearning

·         Big Data

·         HTML5 Tools

·         Interactive Videos

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/scingularity/technological-innovations-and-trends-in-elearning-for-2016-and-beyond-73068

Starting a business or a venture is not an easy task to be done. It requires lots of efforts. No matter how small or large your business idea is, there are some things which need to be planned from beginning. One such thing is brand. The essentials of creating a brand are:

·         Understand what your brand is going to stand for

·         Creative and engaging logo and design

·         Reliable and a strong team of employees.

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/establishing-a-brand-3-steps-you-should-take-73162

Well, in today's time, nobody is untouched with the concept of online shopping. People rarely go out to shop, leaving the comfort of their home. Online shopping does save time and harassment. Sounds like a boon to mankind right? But unfortunately everything is not as perfect as it sounds. Online shopping has its dark side too. It's full of scams. So a careful approach can lead you to a safe and happy shopping experience online. Always use a credit card instead of a debit card, because credit cards have limits to which you can spend but debit cards don't. Only buy from secure and trusted websites. To check whether a website is secure or not checking your address bar, a green colored padlock appears if the website is secure. Change your passwords regularly. Keep records of your spending. To know more, read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/4-useful-tips-for-protecting-yourself-when-shopping-online-73325

To gain the edge in competing business world, one requires operation efficiency and it can be achieved by improving each step of supply chain. To do so following pointers can be used:

·         Cloud Based System

·         Communication

·         Dashboard Reporting 

·         Automate Purchasing

·         Vendor Performance

·         Cost Awareness 

·         Checkweigher

·         Transparency

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/understanding-crm/ways-to-improve-each-step-of-the-supply-chain-73297

Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP is becoming the most popular communications solution for business very fast. Reduction of cost, improvement of service, and give employees some tools are required to run a modern fast paced business. There are many business benefits to switching to a VoIP system. It doesn't matter what kind of sector or business one is in, VoIP will reap benefits for all because of these reasons:

·         One Network, Lower Costs

·         Enhance Collaboration and Productivity

·         Anywhere, Anytime, Anyhow

·         Compete With the Big Guys Improve Customer Satisfaction

·         Scale with Ease

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/voip-news/how-voip-can-streamline-and-centralize-business-communications-73301

Online tools have successfully created a serious and important place for themselves in the organization. Every company must understand their importance in order to generate better outputs. To do so, one must understand all the little points and features of the tool to utilize them to optimum levels. Here are some ways you could use to improve your online help tool:

·         Establish a knowledge base in the cloud

·         Teamwork 

·         Track company progress

·         Create a rating system

·         Integration is important

·         Creating impeccable FAQ pages

·         Educating your employees

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/itmanagement/7-innovative-approaches-to-improve-your-online-help-tool-73300

We hear a lot of tech words buzzing around like big data, cloud, virtualization, one more term that has been really trending lately is business intelligence. What is business Intelligence? It is a whole suite of software tools and applications that dig deep into the raw data available within an organization, analyze them and provide meaningful interpretations that could help with taking business decisions. While choosing the right BI tool, there must be something that kept in mind. They are:

·         Your Use-Case

·         Backwards Compatibility

·         Scalability

·         Training Costs

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/it-small-business/what-to-look-for-in-a-business-intelligence-tool-73303

Translation Management Systems or TMS for short is the series of process and programs that helps a team write content and translate them very efficiently and cheaply. They have many benefits over the manual process of translating text. These softwares have more accuracy, less error rates. They save time and cost. They remove duplicity very easily. They improve the collaboration if the work done. They help in localization and provide centralization of the articles. Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/understanding-crm/5-reasons-translation-management-system-is-vital-73290

An ideal sales process is a series of systematic steps that tracks the interactions from its inception to completion. Outdated and inaccurate software and data prevent you from achieving great results. CRM can help in making the sales process smoother and much more efficient. Here's how:

·         CRM Automates Data Entry

·         CRM Provides Accurate Customer Insights

·         CRM Generates High-Value Leads

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/how-crm-revolutionizes-the-sales-process-73291

Latest CRM applications have introduced new features which are not present in latest legacy solutions. They have more access deployment options for small scale and mid-level business. CRM vendors are making heavy investments to gain the competitive advantage. They excel in increasing company's lead generation using these features: Social Media Prospecting

·         Lead Scoring

·         Better Data Accuracy

·         Audience Segmentation through Data Integration

·         Automated Lead Nurturing

Read the complete article here:  http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/how-to-increase-lead-generation-with-new-crm-applications-73292

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) vendors are adding lots of social media functionalities to their products. Use of mobile and social media tools in combination with CRM software increases business productivity immensely. But before deploying Social media CRM, one should prepare right strategies to get the most out of it. One can achieve this by Increasing their Customer Base. One other way might be Promoting their Brand Identity. The last one can be Improving Sales. Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/social-crm-strategies-for-small-businesses-73293

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a necessity for companies of all types and sizes. This software aims to provide excellent customer service, targeted marketing strategies and other benefits which increase the productivity and profitability of business. For any budding entrepreneur who's still on the fence about CRM, these statistics should make the decision an easy one –

·         Worldwide Market of $36.5 Billion

·         Mobile Accessibility Up to 48 Percent

·         Fully Operational Within 18 Months 

·         Satisfaction Rates Start at 54% and Grow

·         SaaS Deployment at 85% by 2025

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/5-crm-statistics-every-entrepreneur-should-understand-73295

Lifeline of today’s living culture is communication. But the way we connect with people is changing with the enhancement of technologies. Its business needs that has been driving this change and has revolutionized the communication industry. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) companies is setting this trend. Some of the hottest trends in VoIP for business right now are - VoIP Not Required; Easier Ways to Connect; Faster and Cheaper; VoIP and Then Some; Going to the Cloud. Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/voip-news/5-of-the-hottest-trends-in-voip-for-business-73294

Everybody is familiar with digital marketing. But this field requires the updates with latest trends and technology to stay in the game. Here are some trends in Digital Marketing to help you out-

1.       Social Ads: Ads provided at social media platform

2.       Facebook Messenger for business: Facebook messenger can also work like email marketing campaigns and sometimes even more efficiently.

3.       Podcasts

4.       Native Advertising: this helps in getting rid of ad blocking technology

5.       Personalized PPC

6.       Search

7.       Mobile

8.       Apps

9.       Content

10.   Popups

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/tech-advances-business/top-10-trends-in-digital-marketing-to-promote-your-business-online-73273

Internet of Things or IoT has revolutionized the technology sector. It is the buzzword which everybody is talking about. The idea of connecting every device together sounds exciting. And this trend is obviously on the rise with more and more devices connecting to the internet daily. But one factor which no one is really emphasizing on is the security of IoT devices. So here are some habits which might help achieve the same:

1.       Get a Vulnerability Report from the Vendor

2.       Make Security Patches Part of the SLA

3.       Know Where Your Data Goes

4.       Choose IoT with Remote Firmware Upgrades

5.       Always Use Role-Based Network Access

6.       Encrypt IoT Traffic during Transit

7.       Change Default Passwords

8.       Stay Vigilant Through Constant Monitoring

Read the complete article here: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/itmanagement/eight-habits-for-better-iot-security-73286

Well who loves a virus in their computer, hacked accounts, stolen data or corrupt data? No one right. So apart from having a nice and durable anti-virus system there are certain habits which must be developed for safe computer experience.

1.       Use a VPN everywhere

2.       Enable two-step or two-factor authentication for your online accounts

3.       Always lock your PC

4.       Encrypt your drive

5.       Make sure your own Wi-Fi network is secure

Read the complete article here: http://www.computerworld.in/how-to/5-secure-habits-paranoid-pc-user

Software development is a tough job. And what is tougher? Its managing those software projects. Its not enough to know about project management. But what really needed is keeping pace with the oh – so –fast moving IT industry. So here are some challenges that might be faced by the project management team-

1.       Globalization causing extremely high competition

2.       Legacy systems and infrastructure issues

3.       Sufficient software specific expertise

4.       SaaS offerings taking over

5.       Multiple complicated user level requirements

6.       Third-party integration and interface issues

7.       Quality testing and bug fixes requiring numerous software iterations

8.       Revenue recognition reporting requirements for the software industry

Read the complete article here: http://www.computerworld.in/feature/8-challenges-affecting-software-project-management

Election month has again arrived in India with 5 states having their state government election. All the politicians are again targeting voters with all the means they can attract their votes. The medium which highly used now a days is social media. But with its rise, will bulk messaging and voice services of the campaign see the doom? The engagement through various social media has been very beneficial because of features like pictures, info graphics, tweets, polls. But how far social media can take you. Its reach is limited is limited to the internet and it's still not available to every corner of the country. So bulk messaging and social media needs to work hand in hand for a successful campaign. Read the complete article here: http://www.computerworld.in/feature/election-campaigns-should-we-vote-social-media-or-bulk-messaging-services

Software engineers and developers often make great IT leaders. They are tech savvy, are updated with latest market trends and have the trust of the IT team. Have IT leaders in team bridges the gap between the management and your IT team. IT leader will be a person who understands both aspects of the business. So what does it takes to become a great It leader- Team building skills; Networking skills; Talent hunting skills; Smart business skills; Good communication skills; Technical skills. Read the complete article here: http://www.computerworld.in/feature/6-traits-engineers-need-succeed-it-leaders