Our Blog

Software Development Trends To Watch With Food Industry

The restaurant enterprise has historically been gradual to undertake science and progressive digital solutions. But in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic modified that and compelled meals and beverage shops to seem past the traditional. Many eating places have grew to become to tech in the ultimate couple of years, even if reluctantly, to adapt to a new reality. One which consists of greater contactless technology, approaches to hold friends separated from different company and a lot of extra sanitary measures.

Technology and innovation are what have helped, even saved, eating places as they radically change how they function to no longer simply survive, however thrive, in this new related and contactless era. From on line ordering, self-checkouts and contact much less repayments to transport and pick-up, the F&B enterprise can no longer have the funds for to bypass the tendencies that are assisting groups reinvent themselves to stay applicable and competitive.

As it’s expected that increase in the restaurant enterprise will be absolutely pushed through off-premise consumption, the use of science is now not simply about enhancing operations and carrier delivery, however additionally reimagining restaurants.

So, what digital developments and equipment must be pinnacle of thought in 2022 to continue to be up-to-date, and even in advance of the competition?
1. Online ordering structures and transport apps
As eating places stay inclined to imposed restrictions, strict sanitary policies and even closure, on-line meals orders and contactless home-deliveries have come to the rescue. And this carrier is right here to remain as diners develop accustomed to getting the meals they desire when, the place and how they choose it.

Third-party meals shipping apps like UberEats, Food panda, or Door Dash will proceed to be an necessary answer for these no longer capable to provide in-house ordering and transport services. But as many diners record a choice for ordering immediately from restaurants, we can anticipate to see eating places following the lead of large fast-food chains and investing in creating their personal built-in on line systems and apps. Despite the ‘distance’, this digital proximity permits the restaurant enterprise to continue to be intently related with their customers.

2. Contactless payment
Contactless science is going mainstream, and it’s no longer simply about setting an order online, however additionally about paying with a smartphone, smartwatch or clever card by way of an app or contact much less device. New charge applied sciences have been slowly gaining momentum inside the world restaurant industry, however this vogue has accelerated with the pandemic. It’s estimated that contactless repayments will triple from $2 trillion to $6 trillion international by means of 2024, and having such picks are reportedly extraordinarily essential for 34% of customers. With no money hand, no human contact is required – extra hygienic and safer – and it’s quick, immediately and convenient. From a money glide factor of view, it’s additionally extra efficient. If eating places don’t favor to be left in the back of in the coming year, these who haven’t but carried out so higher make investments and graph for a cellular and digital price strategy.

3. Online desk reservation system
Booking a desk through a smartphone name is turning into a issue of the previous as on-line desk reservation science takes on a new importance. Providers like Eat App, Tablein or OpenTable supply clients the freedom to see on hand slots and make their personal reserving on-the-go. In turn, via the usage of technology-enabled reservation systems, eating places can control seating, waitlists, patron loyalty and eating preferences as properly as accumulate indispensable customer information be it for contact tracing or market insights.

The idea has even been taken a step further. Via its initiative Experiences, OpenTable is providing eating places the possibility to recommend special culinary activities and eating experiences, past wellknown reservations. Whether it’s Ramen Nights in celeb chef Hugh Acheson’s eating room, a ‘side-dish’ of line dancing classes or a fixed-price tasting menu, friends can e book their subsequent exceptional eating journey easily, without delay and in accordance to what tickles their style buds. Time to get creative!

4. Digital kitchen ‘boards’
No want to snatch paper and pen, fear about smudged printed tickets or run back-and-forth between the kitchen and front-of-house anymore. Kitchen Display Systems (KDS) are a digital menu board for kitchen body of workers supporting eating places streamline back-of-house operations. Directly linked to the restaurant’s point-of-sale (POS) system, the display shows orders routinely in accordance to precedence and flagging any exclusive dietary requests. Tracking meal shipping instances and monitoring stock to sign when a product is out of stock, this technological answer in the end ensures higher communication, accuracy, clearer workflows and – being a hundred percent digital – guarantees a extra sustainable kitchen operation.

5. Automated stock administration software
Automating your stock administration skill monitoring meals and beverage stocks, awaiting portions and even scheduling reorders no longer want to be time-consuming tedious tasks. Very importantly, the implementation of such software program in your working system can additionally decrease meals wastage, which is reportedly costing the hospitality enterprise $100 billion annually. Through modern-day synthetic talent (AI) technology, groups like Winnow are assisting restaurant proprietors and managers reduce meals waste and prices and run their agencies extra successfully and sustainably. Partnerships with revolutionary structures like Too Good to Go additionally keep eating places from losing their meals surplus, rather making it reachable to customers searching for a meal-deal. Saving time and cash all whilst supporting the planet – sounds like a no-brainer with sustainability being at the forefront of the world agenda.

6. QR codes
Already a staple in mobile-first societies like China, QR codes are going international and popping up at eating places round the world. In this ‘no-touch’ era, auto-scanning barcodes with smartphone cameras on posters, tables, coasters, doorways or web sites lets in clients to get entry to on-line menus, order and pay – barring contact – preserving diners and personnel safe. This technology, which doesn’t require downloading an app, has additionally performed an imperative function in supporting eating places with contact tracing now obligatory in many components of the world for their reopening at some stage in this pandemic. Offering a wide variety of convenient advantages at quite low charges for restaurants, QR code science used to be a ‘must’ in 2021 and nonetheless is in 2022.

7. Air purification technology
As diners return to restaurants, it’s going to be vital to make them sense secure and comfortable. Upgrading sanitization structures thru a number of air purification applied sciences to promote ‘clean air’ is a developing focal factor for the restaurant industry.

Harmless-to-human science like bipolar ionization, which purifies the air and surfaces in indoor areas via neutralizing contaminants, is already displaying promising effects and discovering a market for itself. As are structures which make use of ultraviolet mild recognized as wonderful strategies of each air and floor sanitization. While these principles and merchandise might also no longer but be mainstream yet, they are fast-becoming the most vital restaurant technological know-how of all in in a virus-wary world.

Accelerating digitalization in the F&B industry
Every disaster has its silver lining. The COVID-19 pandemic might also have disrupted ‘business as usual’ and compelled some drastic adjustments upon the restaurant industry, however this disruption has additionally awoken many F&B authorities to an possibility to speed up tech trends, fast-track exchange and re-imagine restaurants.

Technology gives special options for eating places to differentiate themselves and for proprietors to run their organizations extra efficiently. In turn, it leaves greater time and electricity to focal point on delighting friends with scrumptious meals and new memorable eating experiences, be they in-house or off-premise. A win-win solution, don’t you think?

Importance Of Mobile Application

Mobile functions have been nothing however transformative in the way corporations operate. In 2020, about 3.5 billion humans international very own a smartphone. Mobile apps presently existing the most efficient, direct, and customizable way to supply statistics about a product and motivate consumers to continue to be loyal to a specific brand.

Why Does Every Business Need a Mobile Application?

Companies constantly combat for the interest and loyalty of their customers. The opposition to provide the fine product to a wider target market is never-ceasing. Consequently, in such a hastily altering environment, the winner will usually flip out to have set up the most nice and handy verbal exchange channels with their clientele.

Mobile purposes in the cutting-edge world raise the identical value as web sites used to have a decade ago. Below is a breakdown of how cell apps make a contribution to the increase and success of many businesses.

Build Continuous Presence

Mobile app improvement may additionally appear intimidating to some companies, however the advantages it brings entirely justify such an investment. One of the motives for this is the potential to be seen and available to clients at all times. On average, a character in the U.S. spends round 2.7 hours on their telephone daily. As tons as 86% of that time is committed to quite a number apps instead than the pastime in a browser.

Having a purchaser set up a cell utility with a smooth icon diagram can by way of itself invoke and keep the person’s interest. There are quite a number kinds of cellular apps out there and you can pick the one that suits with your audience. More facts about the kinds of cell app improvement and current offerings you can locate on litslink.com

Even even though the consumer may additionally no longer engage with the app each day, instilling regular presence goes a lengthy way toward assisting construct the affiliation between a carrier and one specific company.

Deliver Information More Quickly

Push notifications allow organizations to have interaction with their clients in actual time, turning in updates greater hastily than ever. A man or woman is greater in all likelihood to pay interest to notifications from their cellular app than to test the company’s internet site or even the individual’s personal email. This way, it will become feasible to supply data about fee changes, sales, messages, and new merchandise and make certain that the patron receives it.

Digitized Loyalty Programs

The ancient card device is functionally good, but now not pretty tailored to the new world striving in the direction of greater technological solutions. Transferring a loyalty software totally to the cellular is now not a suitable option, however imparting this opportunity and encouraging clients to use it is, besides a doubt, beneficial. The digitization of a loyalty software is probably to appeal to new clients, as nicely as amplify the quantity of downloads of the app, for that reason increasing the target market and inclusive of already present purchasers who would be in any other case not likely to deploy the application.

Extend the Brand and Improve Recognition

Any organization well worth its salt will try to make their manufacturer work for them. A cellular app gives a special opportunity to create an exceedingly memorable and effective company photograph thru the app’s layout and icon. It can be bright, explosive, informative, minimalistic. But most importantly, it can be successfully descriptive of the company, its usual values and focus.

Expand the Target Audience and Increase Customer Engagement

Mobile apps are in particular eye-catching to the youthful era who has continually lived in the world of texting, ordering matters online, and having contact with their carrier carriers 24/7. Therefore, if a organisation lacks its very own application, it can effortlessly knock out many human beings from even giving it a try.

Besides, cellular functions assist enhance client engagement via chats and order forms. Ordering a product in simply a few clicks is notably quicker and much less demanding for many than making a smartphone name for the equal purpose. Mobile apps additionally allow corporations to acquire remarks on the nice of their service, enhancing each their overall performance and their customers’ experience.

Statistics on the Example of 2019 Winter Holiday Season

In 2019, Cyber Monday witnessed a skyrocketing quantity of income performed by cellular platforms. Smartphones by myself contributed to $3 billion in sales, which is about 36% extra in contrast to 2018’s $2.2 billion attributed to the use of cell buying applications.

During 2019 Black Friday, 65% of all on line sales have been carried out by means of a cell device, and 39% particularly by means of smartphones. These figures are solely anticipated to develop in the following years, and agencies need to anticipate a sharp want to modify their services. This tendency has additionally elevated tenfold all through the contemporary coronavirus lockdown, exhibiting how underprepared many corporations barring cell purposes are at preserving the connection with their clients at a distance.

Mobile Applications are Crucial for Modern Business

Online systems have been pressured severa instances over the years as a crucial aspect of any business. In 2020, it is imperative to take the acknowledgment of on-line structures to the subsequent stage and tailor the shape of a company’s merchandise and offerings to swimsuit the cellular market.

Smartphones are an ever-present attribute that most consumers in the U.S. and all over the world usually lift in their pockets. These equipment allow humans to browse, assess, and purchase gadgets within minutes, efficiently simplifying the method and lowering the time that shoppers spend agonizing over the choice to buy a product. Mobile purposes can assist construct a large consumer base, win the customers’ loyalty, and continue to be a long way beforehand of the competition.

Traditional Hosting vs Cloud Hosting

Traditional web hosting comes in most cases in two forms, devoted and shared. With dedicated hosting, a business enterprise will pay for the entire sources of one or greater servers from a carrier provider. The consumer has a set quantity of devoted bandwidth, CPU, RAM, and force space, and the purchaser has full manage over the servers resources.

With shared hosting, which is extra frequent amongst small and medium sized businesses, the purchaser will pay for a set quantity of area (storage) on a single server, and that server’s assets are shared with the aid of a range of different websites. It’s a cost-efficient, low-maintenance way to host a internet site or application, and the internet hosting agency is accountable for managing, maintaining, and updating the units.

Traditional hosting, mainly shared hosting, has its drawbacks though. Because the sources of a single server are shared amongst a quantity of one of a kind websites, spikes in site visitors to these web sites can imply lowered overall performance for your own. Security breaches and different overall performance troubles on different websites make take yours down as well. And there’s a single factor of failure. If the server itself experiences technical problems, all people hosted on that server will be affected.

With shared hosting, you’re additionally paying for a set quantity of storage and processing power. If you have a predictable drift of traffic, this might also be a desirable answer for you. But if your visitors is growing rapidly, or if you see unexpected spikes in visitors due to a new product or feature, you may additionally be restricted the quantity of storage you presently have.

You will want to adapt by way of buying extra server house to add to your storage area and processing power. But if site visitors falls again, you will be paying for sources that you aren’t using.

Cloud internet hosting affords a degree of scalability that usual web hosting can’t. Cloud web hosting organizations furnish digital house on an on-demand, as-needed basis. Instead of paying for a set quantity of space upfront on a single server, the consumer will pay as they go for what they really use.

With cloud hosting, the load is balanced throughout a cluster of more than one servers. The facts and purposes contained on these servers are mirrored throughout the entire cluster, that means that if an man or woman server goes down, there is no misplaced facts or downtime. Because of this redundancy, cloud internet hosting is tons greater elastic and resilient. Problems with one internet site or software are not likely to have an effect on your bandwidth or performance.

Cloud internet hosting corporations furnish Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). They house, run, and hold all of the vital hardware, and the purchaser can pay for the sources the use, comparable to how we pay for utilities like electricity.

IT departments don’t want to make investments in in-house server hardware. And clients don’t want to pay for up the front for more storage or processing potential that they don’t use. Cloud web hosting is greater shortly scalable than common hosting. If a software or internet site receives extra or much less traffic, the cloud servers scale up and down automatically. With cloud hosting, there’s no want to manually add or cast off server area as there is in shared hosting.

Cloud web hosting is nonetheless an exceptionally new technology, and many who have journey with standard internet hosting are hesitant to cross to some thing different. Shared internet hosting affords shoppers with a convenient, low-entry web hosting solution, and many customers in no way trip problems. But if you’re searching for a low-cost, flexible, without problems scalable web hosting solution, it can also be time to go to the cloud.

The 20 most innovative companies in Real Estate

Bowery, USA
Powered by big data, advanced technology, and extensive expertise, Bowery is redefining the commercial appraisal space. Bowery powers its appraisers with a cloud based commercial appraisal writing software and mobile application, allowing them to write full appraisal reports more than twice as fast as its leading competitors. Its powerful back-end database and natural language  enerator create increased efficiency, quality, and consistency firm-wide.

Buildium, USA
Buildium provides easy-to-use, affordable cloud property management software solutions to landlords, professional property management companies, and selfmanaged condos and homeowners associations.
Enertiv, USA
Enertiv uses data to enhance building operations in commercial real estate portfolios, with a focus on office and multifamily buildings. We use a highly granular data set to design tools for making building easier to operate, healthier to occupy, and more profitable to own.
Flip, USA
Flip is a marketplace for flexible housing. They make it easy to sublet, get out of your lease or find a flexible place to live. Flip’s platform handles the entire experience: digital qualification of  ncoming renters, rent payments, security deposits, legal documents and landlord approval.
Foyr, India
Foyr is India’s first online, automated interior designer. Their mission is to solve real life problems through technology, innovation and design. They’re a varied lot of thinkers and doers,  pontinually rethinking what’s possible to help us all do what we love in new ways.

hOM, USA
hOM (iamhom.com)is a leading technology-enabled amenity provider that partners with residential and office properties to develop community by providing on-site fitness programming and unique events for tenants.
Huthunt, USA
Huthunt is a first of its kind collaborative renting platform that helps connect people looking for roommates and apartments in a social, collaborative, and user friendly app! They help you find your next apartment, and a person you’ll love living with.
No Agent, UK
For decades now landlords have had two choices. Manage their own properties or pay a letting agent to do it. But now there is a new way for landlords to find tenants and manage their rental property professionally. No Agent’s innovative technology and in-house property expertise offers landlords a simpler, flexible and low-fee way to manage everything from start to finish.
Opendoor, USA
Opendoor set out to reinvent life’s most important transaction with home sellers and buyers in mind. They’ve helped thousands of people sell their homes online in minutes, removing all of the headache, uncertainty and risk from the transaction.
Open Listings, USA
Open Listings’ mission is to make buying a home simple and affordable. They help anyone buy a home without an individual real estate agent. Buyers use their self-service platform to manage the process online — with expert support when needed — and get back half the commission that would typically go to their agent.
PeerStreet, USA
PeerStreet is a platform focused on democratizing access to real estate debt. The company provides investments in high-yield, short term, real estate backed loans. PeerStreet’s unique marketplace allows investors to diversify their capital in an asset class that has been traditionally difficult to access.
Purplebricks, Australia
Purplebricks is the world’s fastest growing estate agent and offers customer a fairer, more transparent and convenient way to buy, sell, or let. Open 24/7, they’ve revolutionized estate agency across the globe. They’ve combined the personal touch of Local Property Experts with cutting edge technology and a central support team that puts customers in control of their sale.
Ravti, USA
Ravti makes heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) easier for the Real Estate world. They track, manage, and procure HVAC for large property owners. Removing the headaches associated with HVAC from the Owner’s perspective while making it the easiest business on the planet for the Vendors that serve you.
RealtyShares, USA
RealtyShares is a real estate crowdfunding platform that provides accredited investors access to pre-vetted real estate investment properties and an opportunity to invest as little as $5,000 into each property.

Reposit, UK
Reposit provides an online alternative to the tenancy deposit system in the UK, providing affordability for tenants and enhanced security for landlords.

Riley, USA
Riley provides lead qualification as a service. Real estate brokers buy leads and Riley Concierges text those leads basic questions within five minutes, qualify them, and pass them back to the realtor.

SEEABLE, UK
SEEABLE aims to make 3D & Building Information Models (BIM) asset information visible and accessible to a wider audience, creating easy, non technical access to key information. The 2D and 3D applications are delivered across multiple platforms.

SquareFoot, USA
SquareFoot is the marketplace that connects businesses with their ideal space. By re-engineering the leasing process from initial search all the way through touring and lease negotiations,  SquareFoot is fast becoming the go-to destination for commercial real estate leasing. SquareFoot provides access to available inventory via its online listings platform alongside technology and tools that make the space leasing process easy, enjoyable, and efficient.
VR Listing, Canada
VR Listing is a full service real estate marketing company with a focus on immersive technologies. They provide cutting edge, turn-key solutions packaged for real estate agents, and are currently developing state of the art interactive technologies for other segments of the real estate industry.

How Big Tech Companies are Entering the Real Estate Market?

With the seemingly unstoppable growth of big tech companies over the past two decades, many of them are branching out into new industries such as health, automotive or finance. It’s no surprise therefore that big tech is also setting its sight on the real estate industry, the single largest asset class in the world. We take a look at how big tech players are expanding their reach into real estate by segmenting steps of the RE value chain.

1. Property Search
Property search has long been under digital disruption through listing sites such as Zillow and Trulia that make it easier to find homes and connect to agents. Now, big tech companies are making moves to become part of the home searching process as well. In June of 2019, Amazon launched the TurnKey Home Buying Program in partnership with Realogy, the largest brokerage in the US. TurnKey matches those looking for a home with one of Realogy’s brokers and gives financial rewards to buyers in the form of Amazon smart home products, services, and other perks. Two of the biggest Chinese tech giants — Alibaba and Tencent — are also entering the property search market in a bid to profit from the surging Chinese real estate industry. In 2017, Alibaba launched a home rental service through its Alipay app, where customers can search and rent properties without any deposit. The service is powered by the Alipay credit-scoring algorithm and only allows participants with a certain score to join. Tencent is entering into this space through big investments into Chinese prop-tech companies, most notably with its $1 billion investment into Lianjia, one of China’s largest real estate brokerages, and leading an $800 million funding of the online listing platform Beike Zhaofang.

2. Viewings and Development
The real estate industry depends heavily on tenants, developers, and investors imagining themselves in a place that doesn’t yet exist. So it comes as no surprise that virtual and augmented reality tech is finding useful applications in the RE industry, helping to visualize furnished homes and architectural models. In fact, real estate is becoming one of the main industries where VR and AR are applied and is expected to turn into a $2.6 billion market by 2025. Since most (if not all) of the market-leading VR and AR headsets are made by big tech players such as Facebook, HTC or Samsung, these companies are well-positioned to provide the underlying technology for one of the most important digital platforms transforming real estate. Just one of many applications in this space is a partnership between Microsoft and enterprise software Altoura as part of the ‘Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner’ Program. Clients can use Altoura to create a digital simulation of future
property and virtually project it into the room during a meeting using a Microsoft HoloLens.
(Source: Altoura)

3. Property & Land Purchase
The two biggest single US real estate purchases of 2018 were made not by a financial services firm, but by a tech company — Google, paying $1 billion for a business park in Mountain View and $2.5 billion for Chelsea Market in NYC (the city’s second-largest single-asset sale ever). In 2019, Google is enlarging its real estate portfolio at an even more rapid pace, with plans to spend $13 billion on land and buildings by the end of the year. (Chelsea Market in NYC)

Driven by their growing appetite for data centers and expanding workforce, and generous local tax incentives, big tech companies have been heavily growing their real estate portfolios across the United States and abroad. Large real estate acquisitions allow them to diversify away from their core business and are turning big tech companies into partial real estate investment firms with experienced CRE experts on board. Berlin-based Rocket Internet has even outright admitted that they are having a harder time identifying exciting startup ideas and welcome real estate as a way to diversify their portfolio. They established a separate real estate investment fund (Global Realty Capital) and have been making headlines with acquisitions of several large-scale properties in Berlin.

4. Construction
True to its nickname ‘The Everything Store’, Amazon lately expanded its product catalog to include tiny homes and cabins that you can buy ready-made in a few clicks. With its $6.7 million investment into Plant Prefab, a homebuilder that creates pre-made sustainable homes, it doesn’t seem far-fetched that families will soon purchase their entire home on Amazon.com. Their first investment into a homebuilder was made via the Alexa fund and is seen by many as a play to expand the reach of Amazon ́s virtual assistant technology (more on that below). A flipside of the meteoric success that big tech companies have enjoyed is the increasing lack of affordable living in the Bay Area and other hubs, seen by many as an outright housing crisis. In an attempt to position themselves as better neighbors and try to lessen property prices, companies like Microsoft and Google have started to commit significant funds to build homes and unlocking land for construction near their headquarters. While Microsoft pledged $500M for constructing low-cost homes in Seattle, Google committed $1 billion to build affordable 20,000 homes in Silicon Valley.

5.1 Buildings — Retail
Amazon retails’ biggest nightmare, is somewhat ironically getting pretty serious about retail itself. It bought the Whole Foods grocery chain for $13.7 billion, is expanding Amazon Book Stores and plans to open 3,000 cashier-less Amazon Go Stores by 2021. The reasons for this aggressive expansion into brick-and-mortar are manyfold. Physical stores serve as additional places to return items, something that is a big struggle for Amazon as 30% of all items get returned. Additionally, physical stores allow Amazon to collect more data on consumer preferences and pursue a complete multi-channel strategy since customers who shop via multiple channels tend to spend up to twice as much with that retailer. In China, tech companies are disrupting retail at a fast pace as well. Alibaba’s CEO Jack Ma actually coined the term ‘New Retail’ as one of five main pillars in their longterm business strategy. One of the most concrete examples of Alibaba’s New Retail is
the launch of its own supermarket chain Freshippo, where the smartphone takes center stage in the shopping experience. Customers can find out more about each product on their app and have the option of scanning products into a virtual basket to have them delivered to their home — meaning that the fresh-food supermarket becomes a fulfillment center.
(Source: RetailNewsTrends)

In May 2019, Tencent teamed up in a new venture with Wanda, China’s largest commercial property firm, to build China’s first smart shopping mall. The mall has a VR gaming zone, holographic adds, advanced payment technologies, and the option for retailers to use WeChat (Tencent’s app) to run promotions. Across the country, the boundary between offline and online is disappearing as supermarkets, convenience stores, shops, and malls receive a digital layer, ushering in a new era of shopping.

5.2 Buildings — Residential (Smart Home Tech)
It’s no secret that tech giants are in a bitter competition to become the number one smart home ecosystem. At a compound annual growth rate of 16.9% in the smart home market over the next few years and an expected market size of $53 billion by 2022, it becomes clear why. Amazon paid $90 million for Blink, a video doorbell and security camera company and seems to release a new Amazon Echo device every other month, along with smart screens that show recipes and the Echo Look, a camera that helps you make fashion choices. In addition, Google recently merged all its smart home products under the Nest brand and is also busy launching new devices such as the Google Nest Hub Max that you can use for video calls and home security monitoring. Apple seems to be moving at a slower speed, but still has a pretty clear intention about being a bigger part of people’s homes with its HomePod and HomeKit program.

6. Property Management
Speech-based assistants such as Microsoft’s Cortana, Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri are not just changing how we interact with appliances via a new form of interface, but also with service providers around our homes. As part of their Google Assistant Investment Program, Google invested in proptech firm AskPorter, a voice-powered digital assistant for landlords and tenants to interact that helps with everything from arranging viewings to setting up cleanings. Amazon again is active in this part of the real estate value chain with its partnership with Zego, a company that makes smart home management software. Zego’s app already allows tenants to request repairs and pay their rent. Under the partnership with Amazon, Zego now plans to upgrade its app with Alexa-skills to make many more features possible.

Making Money with Domain Names!

Making Money with Domain Names

You do not want to be the subsequent Google to begin making cash online. Thousands of humans are producing earnings by using investing in area names. They do this by using buying, selling, holding, or creating domains to enlarge their value.

Domain names are the internet’s actual estate, changing land with digital property. Like actual world property, area names can be sold and bought for profit, generate residual income, and developed to make bigger their value.

Buying and Selling Domains
Buying a proper area identify and promoting it over time is a frequent way for area traders to flip a profit. Most right .com names are already registered and the ones that are not have to be developed from the floor up.

If you are searching into domains that are presently registered, you have a few choices to consider:

Domain Marketplace/Auctions: A area market is the place different area owners listing their domains for sale. They can be bought via an offer/counter provide device or via competing with different consumers thru an auction. Our Expired Domain Auction is an exact region to start.
Domain Broker: If you discover an area title you like, you can employ a area dealer to strive and impenetrable it for you. Why would you do this? One, you can preserve your identification personal to keep away from vendor charge inflation. Two, you can retailer time via now not having to deal with negotiating costs and figuring out payment. Three, you can leverage the know-how of a dealer to make positive that you are paying a truthful quantity for the domain.
Contacting the Owner Directly: You can reduce out the center man via contacting the proprietor of the preferred area directly. To discover the owner’s contact information, you will want to do a whois lookup.

Most recognizable and time-honored domains for the most famous tlds (.com, .net, .org) are in all likelihood to be registered. If you prefer to register a new area with the intention of promoting later, be organized to put in a lot of time and effort into growing the domain. Any domain identify has the plausible to be valuable. One way to create price in a area identify is by means of including beneficial content material to the web page to appeal to traffic.

Holding Domains: Parking for Profit
Many area buyers personal heaps and even lots of area names. They maintain these domains and monetize them by means of putting PPC advertisements (ie Google AdSense) on them and amassing the profits. This strategy, recognized typically as parked area monetization, depends on domains that get type-in traffic. Type-in site visitors describes the conduct of customers typing a area title immediately in the browser’s tackle bar to get to a internet site rather of the use of a search engine.

Developing Domains
A greater time ingesting however probably profitable way to income from your domains is to create full featured web sites round them. Obviously this takes plenty extra effort because including cost to a area entails many steps in contrast to a buy/sell or parking strategy. Adding price to a area may additionally consist of matters like market research, content material creation, and product improvement relying on what you desire to do. In addition to the enterprise aspect of creating a domain, you may additionally want to cope with the technical necessities of preserving a website. However, there are several sources on line (open supply software, outsourcing, etc) that make this tons greater manageable for the much less technically inclined.

There is a world of chance out there in area investment. Only now are human beings beginning to understand the price of a suitable area name. Whether you are shopping for and selling, parking, or developing, investing in domains is a tremendous way to generate profits online. It’s in no way too late to get started!

Ways to Use Small Business Technology to Grow

Today’s Software Tools Can Help Businesses Become More Efficient

Technology can assist small enterprise proprietors leverage constrained capital in smarter, greater wonderful ways. In some cases, the usage of technological know-how offers higher effectivity and versatility, making it a herbal development for procedures you may additionally already have in region in your business. In others, you can also want to make some changes to reap the advantages of tech-friendly alternatives.

The accurate information is that the advantages regularly outweigh the short-lived challenges of the transitional process, as soon as new structures are in place. Here are some areas to discover when you are geared up to ramp up your use of science in your business.

Productivity
There are a vast vary of productiveness equipment that can amplify your effectivity as a business, which means that you get greater achieved and optimistically gain greater revenues as a result. Time monitoring software program is an amazing device for mapping out the place time is spent and through whom, supporting you spot the place time is being wasted and become aware of possibilities for greater environment friendly use of time. Such analysis, when true utilized, is high-quality for accountability, procedure improvement, and productivity.

Digital dictation can assist you streamline your work processes, specially if your commercial enterprise consists of a lot of time-consuming transcription work. Use challenge administration and venture administration equipment to remain on pinnacle of your every day enterprise responsibilities. Create a digital submitting machine to make it less complicated to sort, save, share, and locate documents. Develop an environment friendly e mail administration manner that makes it less complicated to remain on pinnacle of the go with the flow of messages.
Financial Tools that can control your company’s financials can assist you spot wasteful spending and make bigger your backside line.

  • Use an on-line invoicing provider to decrease the expenses of gathering price from customers.
  • Use on-line price range monitoring to preserve on pinnacle of—and reduce—your expenses.
  • File your taxes greater efficaciously online.
  • Create a new profits movement via promoting your merchandise online.
  • Use a complete accounting software program to streamline your commercial enterprise finances.
  • Share digital documents with your bookkeeper or accountant to enhance your ongoing bookkeeping processes.
  • Explore open supply functions to substitute some of the extra highly-priced “name brand” alternatives
  • Marketing Software can assist you market your enterprise higher by means of streamlining workflows and growing collaboration between special advertising channels.
  • Use software program to create a advertising sketch that you can edit, replace and share with your team.
  • Use social media web sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. to promote your business, products, and services.
  • Start a weblog associated to your commercial enterprise and goal audience.
  • Collect e mail addresses via an opt-in shape and begin utilising the strength of e mail marketing.
  • Use video marketing.
  • Promote your commercial enterprise with a internet site and/or on line advertising.
  • Collaboration and Learning
  • Technology these days helps to coordinate groups and instruct them to extend their productivity.
  • Conduct teleconference calls to make positive crew participants in extraordinary places are on the equal page.
  • Webinars or internet conferences are exceptional for retaining all people in the loop with travel-free face-to-face time.
  • Expand your information and empower your group with on line commercial enterprise training.
  • Share archives and information on the cloud.
  • Set up an Intranet for neighborhood file sharing.
  • Communicate shortly and in reality with your crew thru group messaging.
  • Customer Service
  • Software equipment can additionally assist enhance your relationship with your customers.
  • Use social media to behavior consumer service.
  • Set up an on-line assist desk or ticket gadget to take care of purchaser issues.
  • Allow customers to time table appointments on line at their convenience.
  • Use on line surveys and questionnaires to get client feedback.
  • Mobile Working and Telecommuting
  • Software makes it less complicated for human beings to work from home, saving cash on workplace house and utilities.
  • Create a cell workplace that lets in you to work productively from anywhere.
  • Try a faraway computing device software to get entry to archives on your workplace computer.
  • Go paperless to store cash on components and storage in your office.
  • Get a digital smartphone quantity and digital fax line that you can take anywhere.
  • Use your smartphone and pick apps that sync with the cloud to remain related when you are on the go.

Is WordPress a Secure CMS ?

Cybersecurity is a hot subject matter these days, as it need to be: 30,000 new web sites are effectively hacked each day, and spending to guard in opposition to on-line threats is in the thousands of billions. And no internet site is immune — these assaults have an effect on individuals, small businesses, and large companies alike.

Websites that use WordPress as their CMS are a favorite goal for hackers. In 2019, 94% of profitable cyberattacks towards CMS-powered web sites focused WordPress sites. Even when thinking about WordPress’ 60% share of the CMS market, 9 out of 10 assaults is nevertheless pretty high.

These stats may make you query whether or not the usage of WordPress as your CMS is a proper idea. You would possibly wonder, is WordPress definitely secure to use?

In short, yes. But I desire to dig a bit deeper into this question, so you can apprehend what makes WordPress prone to safety problems, how to keep away from them, and sooner or later sense extra assured about your CMS choice.

Let’s destroy down a WordPress website’s safety into its predominant components: WordPress core (the supply archives that manipulate fundamental WordPress functionality), plugins, and themes. Doing this will assist us apprehend WordPress security as a whole.

Is WordPress Core Secure?
Short answer: Yes, WordPress core is protected when saved up to date to the modern day version. But there are extra steps customers can take to harden WordPress core on their website.

Longer answer: Unlike topics and plugins, there’s solely one WordPress core, and it’s maintained with the aid of a world-class protection team. WordPress stays on pinnacle of vulnerabilities in their software program and releases safety updates to patch their core files. Whenever WordPress releases an update, set up it as quickly as you can, given that the problems every replace solves are public knowledge.

Also, there are extra measures on your cease to maintain WordPress functioning at its safest. These include:

Protecting your login with robust passwords. Additional elements like two-factor authentication and plugins to restrict login tries and add captchas are additionally really worth searching into.
Installing a WordPress protection plugin that can scan your website online for malware, and walking scans of your internet site on a ordinary basis.
Enabling SSL so traffic can securely join to your site.
Hosting your internet site with a invulnerable provider.
For a full listing of nice practices, you can take to defend WordPress core, see our Ultimate WordPress Security Checklist.

Are WordPress Plugins Secure?
Short answer: Not always. Use solely reputable, reliable plugins, and replace them when necessary.

Longer answer: If core documents are the coronary heart of WordPress, plugins are…well, essentially the whole thing else. They make WordPress infinitely customizable and flexible. The trouble is that plugins are made by way of 1/3 parties, and now not all are assured to be excellent maintained, or even protected in the first place. As a result, plugins are one of the most famous gateways hackers use to enter WordPress-powered websites.

Don’t get me wrong, plugins are essential for some thing past the performance of WordPress core. But, like you wouldn’t down load a sketchy file from a sketchier website, be very cautious the place you supply your plugins. We suggest sticking to the WordPress plugin listing and weighing popularity, upkeep frequency, and person evaluations in your plugin choices.

Also, even a reliable plugin is nevertheless risky if no longer stored up to date. Install updates for your plugins as quickly as possible, and remain knowledgeable about what builders are fixing and improving.

Are WordPress Themes Secure?
Short answer: Not always. Use a theme that meets WordPress’ standards, and replace it when necessary.

Longer answer: Many topics are made with the aid of 1/3 parties, and as a result no longer regulated or authorized through WordPress. Don’t simply installation a theme due to the fact you like that look, as essential as that is. Your theme additionally wishes to meet the WordPress requirements for code. To make sure this, pick out your theme from the respectable WordPress theme listing or strive one that we recommend. You can additionally take a look at the security of any WordPress website online (including your own) by way of pasting the internet site URL into W3C’s validator.

Finally, I stated it before, and I stated it again, and I’ll say it as soon as more: Update! Outdated subject matters are any other effortless possibility for unwarranted get entry to to your site’s backend.

“Keeping your plugins and topics up to date frequently are fundamental to preserving the protection of your WordPress site. You additionally want to check subject matters and plugins updates separately, such as on a staging site, earlier than launching them to production. That’s to make positive the updates don’t smash current functionality, or worse, crash the internet site entirely.” – Alec Wines, Head of Growth at WP Buffs

The Truth About Cybersecurity
One greater component you have to know: In an perfect world, understanding the dangers and inserting the proper structures in region would do away with the probabilities of being hacked. But being invulnerable is now not the identical as being immune.

Perfect safety is not possible no count which CMS you determine on, and there will usually be dangers to web hosting content material online. The great issue you can do is minimize the danger of attacks. Again, if you take protection seriously, you’ll be in exceptional shape. By questioning WordPress’ protection in the first place, it indicates that you in all likelihood already do.

Why Mobiles Apps for Your Business?

Mobile devices have drastically shifted the online landscape to the point that in 2010 more than 50 percent of all Internet access was being done via handhelds of some sort. About 45 percent of mobile owners are using their devices to download social networking apps. In fact, 35 percent of Android and iPhone owners in the U.S. use apps such as Facebook before getting out of bed, according to a recent survey conducted by telecommunications equipment vendor Ericsson.

You can use mobile app as an promotional tool for your business. Today, everything including commerce, trading and payment is handled on mobile. That being the case, mobile apps have proved to be the very future of computing. Developing a mobile app and promoting it among your users is hence extremely beneficial to further your business.

You can reach more people (customers). Developing an app for your business helps you reach many more customers, than with a traditional Website.

You can demonstrate your product or services easily using mobile app. You can keep updating your app, to feature different new products every once in a way. Offering users interesting offers and discounts encourages them to visit you more often and spread the good word as well.

You can partner with other application to bring more traffic. With the mobile industry booming like it is right now, it is most advisable for any and every business to develop mobile apps to promote their products and services. Mobile is indeed the way all communication is headed today and so, embracing this technology is guaranteed to produce the right results for your business.

Translate »