• Computers
    Benefits of payroll software for small businesses

    Payroll software market is a vast crowded market where the consumer is spoiled for choice and left confused too. A bare-bone payroll software is to simplify the process of making payments to the employees of an enterprise. However, the above is a simplistic definition. In practice, the requirements are far more complicated than that and depend on the size of the enterprises. An enterprise employing less than 50 persons is classified as small, one employing between 49 and 999 is medium and above that is large. As the size of the enterprise changes the need for more functions in the payroll software is demanded. The payroll market has risen to the challenges and that is one reason for the plethora of products.

    At the bottom of the ladder is an enterprise that is just being set up the needs of which is just to make the salary slip to help pay the employees to deduct their statutory savings and prepare the tax returns and not file. Payroll software is usually ideal for those who run small businesses or those who run on outsourced work. They, normally, have the capacity to scale up. No enterprise is started without the idea of growing. Therefore, the entrepreneur needs to think about his future requirement too and use software which in course of time can be scaled up. Companies have a choice to do the payroll in-house or outsource them. Big companies normally prefer to do it in-house as there are lots of functions that can be done with the higher end software. There are various software on the market under the “payroll for a small business” category. QuickBooks online payroll (QBOP), IntuitOnline payroll (IOP) are some popular packages on the market. OnPay is bare-bone payroll software operating on a monthly retainer, which covers 10 employees and thereafter on per employee per month charge basis.

    QuickBooks online free software is very popular among the small business community. The financial software’s popularity indicates that it is used for more than just payroll like inventory management invoice generation and direct deposit of salary. The advantages of this package are integration with many systems is possible. It has a portal for employee self-service. It is versatile enough for use by various industries. It can be used in-house bookkeeping also. Besides, it is affordable to most small businesses. It can be used by those who serve many different industries.

  • Computers
    Understanding the importance of POS systems

    When deciding what type of point-of-sale system (POS) to choose for a retail store of a restaurant, it is essential to know the basics of this financial system. The software market is flooded with a variety of products available for POS systems; this is bound to make choosing the right one a daunting task.

    The country’s economy is increasingly becoming a cashless one. Most daily purchases are done using credit or debit cards or other electronic mediums. The markets have, naturally, adapted to the situation. As mentioned before, there are different types of POS systems available and many retail and other stores are adapting to this mode of transaction.

    POS systems that comprise a computer enable the owner to record all sales transactions and other information like details of goods sold, services rendered, their price and quantity on one’s device or on the cloud. The POS system will also show the cashier and the customer the total cost, the tax levied, and whether any money is to be returned for the transaction. Since the details of all sales are available, an efficient POS system can help streamline various other operations. It can summate total sales, help calculate the tax, and the number of times each item is sold during a period. It can help manage the inventory, orders, generate payroll, taxes to be paid, and basically help manage the business efficiently.

    A POS system is an important requirement of restaurant chains as well. A restaurant POS system or a mobile POS simplifies paves way for efficient and portable transactions. Self-serve kiosks help to reduce the crowd at the counter as well. With the use of an efficient POS system in restaurants, the sales and costs can be monitored closely. When choosing a POS system for your restaurant, it is important to ensure that it complies with EVM; as a restaurant handles cash from different sources, a POS that is EVM compliant will help reduce the chances of frauds.

     

    It is, therefore, essential to do your research well and choose a POS system for your retail store or restaurant that will meet all your requirements.

  • Computers
    A brief overview of predictive analytics

    Predictive analysis is an advanced branch of analytics. Business enterprises generate a large amount of data, some of which are structured while most are unstructured. This vast data is a virtual information mine; one can effectively predict the future risks and options by mining this vast treasure trove using various techniques of data mining such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, various modeling techniques, and analytical methods together with management and information technology. Predictive analytical models are used to foresee relationships among various factors and conditions; these models can be simulated to see the possible outcome of any particular set of conditions. Companies that employ these techniques can benefit in a great way.

    Structured data are definitive information like age, income, sales, etc. The unstructured data are information in text messages from various sources like posts in social media, notes from call centers, and the like. These are to be extracted along with the sentiment associated with the statement and then used in the modeling exercise. The outcome helps companies to anticipate and be proactive rather than being reactive or working on hunches with all the associated uncertainties.

    The process of predictive analytics involves the following steps.

    • The first thing is to define the project, its desired outcomes, deliverables, the required effort, business objectives, and identification of relevant data.
    • Mining the identified data mines for predictive analytics prepares the data from multiple sources for effective analysis. This gives a comprehensive view of the customer interactions.
    • Data analysis, the next step, is inspection, cleaning, and modeling to discover useful information to draw conclusions.
    • Statistical analysis then enables the validation of hypotheses, assumptions, and enables one to test them with standard models.
    • Predictive modeling then creates the ability to automatically generate accurate models about the future. It throws up options to choose and their multi-model evaluation. The model can be used in every day working to automate decision making and generate reports.
    • After this, monitoring the model ensures that the system is providing the desired outcomes.
    • Prescriptive analytics helps automate complex decisions and tradeoffs to predict and proactively update suggestions based on the changing scenario to make the best use.

    Predictive analytics find applications in businesses, health care, collection, sales, fraud detection, and a host of other fields including security. Needless to say the field is very fertile for innovations and there are myriads of software companies providing solutions.

  • Computers
    Know about royalty-free stock photos

    Photographers sell their photographs to stock photo shops for a price and royalty agreement. They sell their photographers multiple times retaining the copyright. This forms a good source of income for them. This, essentially, means their photos can be used for certain specified purposes while they retain ownership and all other intellectual rights. The shops are free to sell these photographs with a royalty-free license collecting a fee and allowing the buyer to use the photographs for the approved uses without any bar on time Moreover, buyers need not pay any royalty to anyone. Generally, these shopkeepers split the royalty fee with the photographers. The license specifies the conditions of use. There is a general license but each outlet has their own and therefore it is better to go through the fine print with a magnifying glass. These are royalty-free stock photos. These photos can be used for commercial purposes and one can make profits. However, it is better to confirm the conditions in the agreement one has signed with the shop from which one is buying the photos.

    Free stock photos are photos that are free to download by anybody and for any purpose. These photos come under Public Domain or issued under Creative Commons or some other such licenses. Libraries, museums or photographers routinely release good images that are all of the traditional styles. These photos can be downloaded for free and used for any purpose without any limitations. Furthermore, there are images in the Public Domain which never had any copyright, to begin with, or their copyrights have expired. These pictures can be used without any limitations or any payments to anybody.

    Users of free stock photos
    Advertisers need pictures that can be published in large numbers. It would be uneconomical to pay a royalty for every time a picture is published. Creative artists who create designs for souvenirs, greeting and postcards, book covers, fliers are all consumers of royalty-free stock photos. TV and web commercials are big consumers of free photographs. Calendars, corporate identity documents, letterheads, and presentations are segments in need of high-quality low-cost photographs. These photos are bought by houses and restaurants to adorn the wall. Corporate houses often buy photographs of works of great painters and other high-quality images to adorn the walls. Blog writers on photography and travel, travel magazines also make use of these photographs. In short, all those fields that need to publish or other wise use images repeatedly are users of these photos.

  • Computers
    Knowing more about CRM software and how it is used

    When a company overviews its client base from a larger perspective, depending on the footprint the respective brand has had on the customers, it is extremely crucial for the service or product provider to manage the consumers with much expertise and precision. To be able to execute this task, it was once considered that one hundred percent human involvement is what would enable the best customer satisfaction and user-oriented experience, however with the advent of technology, it is extremely difficult to imagine any portion of our existence without innovation and evolution in it. Following the same path, the once completely human-run system of handling a company’s customers was taken into a realm that involved user-friendly software and the use of computing machines or devices that have access to the Internet.

    Customer relationship management is one such channel that is used by most companies to represent their brands to existing customers and also possible buyers. Software related to CRM is not only responsible to store data, it also houses complex, inbuilt algorithms, that would help the parent body, that’s the company, to retain the maximum number of clients and also attract the best kind of new users.

    The algorithm that is included in the CRM software work on the base of the data that can be fed into the computer using different channels. These channels can be methods which are as simple as pro actively collecting detailed reviews about individual products from new and existing customers and keeping track of how the experience is changing as the service or the product is being used over a period of time. Using its respective CRM software, the manufacturer or the company is able to stay in touch with its customer base using emails, telephonic channels and even mobile-friendly methods like chat.

    CRM software can be driven by various motives, depending on the company it is a part of. It can be an exclusively analytics-based formula or it can also be one-data related that use counter software like customer data platform, to copulate and put to use data extracted from existing consumers.

    CRMs assist clients from the pre-sales stage of involvement, to when the purchase is being finalized, to issues and experiences that is comes as an input from new customers and working on them, delivering an after-sales relationship between the consumer and the manufacturer of the product or the service. Investing in an effective CRM system or software, has proved extremely beneficial to firms who have been looking for catalysts to boost sales and keep track of existing clients with their on-going experiences.

  • Computers
    The best data recovery services of 2018

    Today, a lot of important information is stored on a computer. For home users, there could be many digital photos of family, friends, and memorable moments. There could also be other personal data or financial information. Business users could have a whole lot of important contact information, sales numbers, inventory records, and financial reports. This makes data recovery extremely important. One of the first priorities, however, before committing to a data recovery company is to ensure the quality of customer service and their involvement in the entire process. One needs to do a quick search about their reputation and authenticity, which will bring about a big relief to the party involved.

    The fact of the matter is that no matter whom the computer belongs to, there is always identifiable information that, when stolen, could fall into the wrong hands. The only way to mitigate computer data loss is by getting it serviced by a professional recovery lab. Finding a trusted recover lab unit is difficult. As data are valuable and it needs a meditative process to restore/risk the files on the drive.

    Here are three best hard drive recovery services in the country:

    • Secure Data Recovery  Services
      It is one of the most trustworthy data recovery services. It has a strict set of security protocols that include secure storage, data encryption, and comprehensive monitoring. Secure data recovery is the only data recovery agent with a third-party certified ISO 4 classification and 10 clean rooms.
    • SALVAGEDATA
      This company makes recovering the damaged hard drives stress free by providing excellent customer support, free evaluation, and comprehensive data recovery. It also includes DIY software for relevant recoveries. The sensitive files on the system are going to be super safe as the software has got brilliant technicians to operate it and have SSAE SOC 3 certification.
    • DriveSavers
      This company has been in operation since 1985 and their data recovery solution has been a global success for home and business users. The hard drive recovery service has not only been used by the public, but by celebrities such as Buzz Aldrin and Harrison Ford as well. They hardly market their brand as they more focused to serve their potential client impressively. They have an ISO 5 class system, 100 clean lab rooms with roughly 100,000 particles by cubic meter. DriveSavers provides a comprehensive data recovery solution and backs the data with much care and security, there is a strict security protocol perform in an ideal environment.
  • Computers
    Why upgrade to an SSD

    If one is well versed with computer hardware, then the term SSD would be of no surprise to him or her. Solid state drives, more commonly known as SSDs, utilize flash memory to deliver performance that, as compared to the conventional mechanical hard drive, is light years ahead. SSDs are static in nature and is less prone to wear and tear compared to conventional hard drives, making it cost effective for any computer. SSDs offer lesser access time, making processing speed faster and is highly energy efficient. It has been observed that using an SSD as the primary drive with the operating system and the most accessed applications and the remaining in an HDD gives maximum performance. If you’re not convinced yet, here are some reasons that can help change your mind.

    Speed
    A typical HDD takes 5,000 to 10,000 microseconds to access data, while an SSD can access data at a speed from 35 to 100 micro seconds, making SSDs a must buy. For people relying on a huge database on a daily basis, an SSD can be the best solution available right now. It has been observed that the boot up time significantly reduces if the OS is installed in an SSD as the primary hard disc.

    Reliability
    There is always a risk of wear and tear involved when computer hardware is in motion and such risks can be significantly reduced by using an SSD. The absence of magnets also makes them less influenced to magnetism, which can damage the conventional drive

    Power Consumption
    Static drives consume very little energy compared to the moving conventional drives and thus help control the electricity expense, and in laptops, they help a lot in increasing the battery life.

    Size
    An SSD occupies lesser space than the usual hard drive; hence, laptops utilizing an SSD can be made more compact and portable. In desktops too, the usage of an SSD helps in creating more space inside the cabinet.

    Heat
    When there is motion, sooner or later, there will be a generation of heat inside the HDD, which can gradually damage the components inside. SSDs, on the other hand, don’t produce heat; thus, increasing the overall life of the computer

    The only disadvantage of owning an SSD is as follows:

    Price
    SSDs cost a bomb when compared to the conventional hard drives. A 128Gb SSD can cost as much as a 1TB HDD. Laptops or desktops utilizing an SSD usually also have an HDD for storing large data.