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It’s much easier to remember your password if you use the same one across multiple platforms. And that’s probably why so many people keep using the same password despite being warned for years not to do so.

Password reuse remains one of the biggest cybersecurity risks on the radar of Chip Witt, head of product strategy for SpyCloud, an Austin, Texas-based company that alerts customers when employee or company assets have been compromised.

Witt gave a presentation on cybersecurity Tuesday at the AICPA ENGAGE 2019 conference in Las Vegas. He discussed the growing risks of password reuse and account takeover as well as how to keep credentials and data from being monetized on the “dark web” by cybercriminals.

“Password reuse is a really big problem,” he said in an interview before ENGAGE. “Once people find a good password, they’ll continue to reuse that password exactly, or variations of it. This is dangerous because the cybercriminal, once he has your password, can very easily access your accounts and the loyalty points, cash, and/or personally identifiable information within.”

A one-password — or weak-password — approach places the user at significant risk of fraud, theft, and professional liability, Witt said, adding that hackers have a variety of tools for stealing account credentials, including social engineering manipulation, malware, prior breaches, and other tech tools.

It’s not just personal data that are in jeopardy. Firms of all sizes are at significant risk of companywide data breaches when employee accounts are hacked; once criminals break in, they can leverage stolen data for a variety of fraud schemes, such as business email compromise, invoice fraud, and employment fraud. They also gain access to corporate secrets, financial accounts, employee personnel records, and business plans, putting the company at high risk for financial and reputational damage.

As dangerous as that sounds, the risk doesn’t stop there. Criminals can also sell your stolen credentials to other criminals on the deep web, which is the part of the internet not indexed by search engines. Most of the credential sales take place on the dark web, which essentially is a sliver of the deep web, accessible only by special browsers. The dark web provides a level of seclusion and anonymity that makes it an attractive place for criminals to digitally congregate for illegal activities.

“Once information shows up on the dark web, it’s no longer a secret,” Witt said. “A wide variety of people have access to it.”

Witt offered several tips for how individuals and companies can protect themselves against account takeover and credential theft.

Use a password manager. 
Password managers like Keeper, Zoho Vault, True Key, and many others generate complex, unique, and encrypted passwords for every site you need access to. There are many types of password managers, but no matter which you choose, they go a long way toward erasing the password reuse problem, according to Witt. In combination with other security steps, such as two-factor authentication, password managers can create significant hurdles for cybercriminals trying to break in to your accounts.

Be proactive. 
Witt recommends allocating part of your budget to external-credential and identity-monitoring systems, which mitigate the risk of your data being disseminated after a breach.

Quite often, companies don’t know they’ve been breached until after the harm is done. Criminals can sit on breach data for 12 to 18 months before exploiting them, giving your data time to clandestinely circulate, Witt said. However, they may share or sell breach data on the dark web without acting on them, which gives companies an opportunity to find their stolen material before criminals use it.

“You want to constantly monitor your credentials and identity for exposure,” said Witt.

Protect employees’ personal accounts. 
Because people tend to use the same password across multiple accounts, if an employee’s personal email account is hacked, cybercriminals may potentially gain access to your company’s networks, using that same password. Witt suggested that companies extend security protection to employees’ accounts to lessen the risk of password reuse damage. He also recommends extending those protections to employees’ family members to protect their larger online networks.

“The majority of individuals will use the same password across multiple aspects of their identity. They’ll use it for their work mail, for their personal email, et cetera,” he said. “Know an exposure in one area could definitely affect another.”

When an employee or customer whose credentials have been compromised logs in to your systems, “if a password has been exposed, criminals are likely to use it.”

Automate account takeover prevention. 
Witt advocated taking choice out of the equation when it comes to password and account protection by automating every possible stage in the process, such as scanning the web for credentials, comparing credentials against known compromised material, and monitoring account creation for fraud warning signs. Automation using technology like SpyCloud’s ATO Prevention software, Imperva’s ThreatRadar, or LexisNexis’s ThreatMetrix ensures that your protection activities are constant, current, and as habitual as possible.

“Whatever technologies you leverage, build them in to your environment and automate the process. Anything that relies on a human doing something is going to get set aside or pushed back to the back burner,” Witt said. “Automate your security measures wherever possible.”

As a business owner, conferencing can come with its high sides and low sides. While they could be an excellent opportunity to learn new skills and develop new strategies that can be useful for your business, they could also be expensive. While they can give you a chance to meet new people and expand your business through networking, they can make you lose focus on your business. 
So, the million-dollar question is how do you get the most out of any business conference you attend? 

1. Have Clear Goals and Objectives

Conferences tend to move at the “speed of social” these days. People are moving from one conversation, session, or event to another, quickly. It is easy to get lost in the flow of things. Identify clear objectives of meetings to attend, who you hope to meet, and what you want to take away, before the event.

2. Be Prepared

You would run into people who can help grow your business. So be prepared for that. I could be either a client or someone who offers some services that you may need. It could either be a new mentor or a protégé. Just be ready for that. Make as many promotional materials as you can be available. This would make it easy for people to be able to contact you when the conference is over.  

3. Avoid the Helicopter Approach

The Helicopter approach is simply a situation where when you begin to approach someone in a meeting only to stop a few feet away to go into “hover mode”. I do not understand why people do this. I believe if you want to go and talk to a person at a conference, walk up to the individual and start up a conversation. Hovering around would make you seem like a stalker, and if the person you want to approach notices this, he would almost immediately begin to form a plan to escape. Complete your approach and introduce yourself.

4. Be Approachable

Conferences are an excellent opportunity to meet people and network for the growth of your business. That cannot happen if you do not look engaging or approachable enough. So, stay off your phone and your tablet, wear a reassuring smile on your face. This would make it easier for people to approach you. Knowing “how to network”. “is just as vital when” to network. 

5. Create a Schedule

Find out who the speakers are and what they are going to be talking about. Figure out the sessions that would benefit you the most and go for them. The truth is that it is impossible to go for all the available courses and the best ones fill up fast. 

6. Carefully Pick the right Action Step After the Conference

After a conference, you would come back with so much information and skills that you would want to put to practice immediately. Relax first. The reason is that your enthusiasm may cause you to make so many changes at once. And when the changes become complicated, you may give up. Instead, before making any changes, go over the things you learnt and pick the right action steps that would help your business the most!

When Donny Shimamoto, CPA/CITP, CGMA, talks about technology, the people listening to him often think he’s speaking about the future.

“People keep thinking, ‘This is all future stuff, this is all future stuff,’” said Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, a CPA firm that helps small and midsize organizations leverage technology.

“When we get to AI and robotics, yes, some of it might be more futuristic. But there’s quite a bit of it that’s already here.

“It never fails to amaze me why people aren’t leveraging what we have now.”

On Wednesday, Shimamoto teamed with sole tax practitioner Dan Moore, CPA, at AICPA ENGAGE 2019 in Las Vegas to address how emerging technologies are enhancing tax practices. In their session, Shimamoto and Moore said that while artificial intelligence (AI) represents a quantum technological leap, firms of all sizes can prepare today with smaller jumps in technology and management philosophy.

Technologies of today

The first step in leveraging technology today is to understand what’s available and how it’s changing the business. Here’s are six areas tax practitioners should consider:

The paperless office. This is the baseline of technological change: Firms have been working for decades to digitize their documents and processes. “Some people are working dynamically with the information in its electronic format. Some people are working with paper returns,” Moore said. Small firms in particular have been slow to abandon paper, especially because so many clients still submit physical tax documents.

Cloud and collaboration tools. Digital documents now can be shared and manipulated more seamlessly. Online document management portals allow clients and colleagues to quickly exchange and organize documents. Other digital platforms allow easier comment review, invoicing, and payment. Cloud software allows for anytime, anywhere access to data and applications, reducing the need for in-house hardware.



Moore has transitioned some of his services — such as document management and QuickBooks integrations — to cloud services that allow 24/7, on-demand data exchange with clients. “That makes things so much more seamless than getting a backup of their QuickBooks file,” he said. Still, he hasn’t converted the firm’s central tax-preparation work to a cloud product, in part because he’s considering contingency plans for a disruption of internet or cloud services.

Client communication tools. As communication channels multiply, it’s becoming more difficult to get clients’ attention when further information is required. Phone calls go unanswered, and voicemails are ignored. Firms need to look to newer platforms, such as desktop communications software with text messaging options like Slack, Skype for Business, or Microsoft Teams. Alternatively, Moore recommends the Liscio messaging platform, which was designed with CPAs in mind and uses a smartphone app.

Tax outsourcing. Digital platforms make it easier to collaborate with contractors — including, for example, the growing number of knowledge workers in India. Firms that master offshoring could find relief from tight labor markets and rising labor costs, but offshoring comes with new management challenges and isn’t yet widespread among small firms, Moore said.



“It takes a special type of personality to do that because you’re giving up control,” he said. But Shimamoto sees it as an inevitability. “Because [the cloud] makes our system more accessible, we can then leverage the best talent, wherever they have to be,” Shimamoto said.

Visualization. Data visualization tools, such as dashboards, maps, and interactive charts, have become commonplace. Options range from Excel tools such as Power Map to more specialized software like Tableau and Microsoft Power BI. “[Visualization is] getting easier, so you’re seeing it in more and more places,” Shimamoto said. That’s good, because as Moore pointed out, clients are increasingly looking for visualization options.

Automation. Simple methods of automation are broadly available. It’s now commonplace to use scan-and-fill technology to extract digital information from paper documents. Some firms are using robotic process automation (RPA) software that can automatically click through software interfaces to translate information between programs. In the long run, RPA could take over most basic data-entry services, according to Shimamoto.

Taken together, the six areas point to a tax practice marketplace where automation and outsourcing capture an increasing share of routine work tasks.

“In today’s world, you’re either going to automate it, meaning you’re going to use technology, or you’re going to outsource it to a cheaper labor market,” Shimamoto said. “And this is again, all these lower-end, menial, repetitive tasks.”

The tasks most likely to be automated or outsourced are repetitive and simple. That means the firms of the future will be competing on the ability to manage automation/outsourcing and deliver specialized products or meaningful insight.

How to prepare

How can firms embrace emerging technology tools? Some are tempted to pursue every option — the more tech, the better. But Shimamoto urges a business-first approach.

“Make sure that you’re not starting with the technology. What you really should be doing is figuring, ‘Where do I have a problem in my firm, and what really is the problem?’” he said.

The answer will be different for each firm, but some significant overarching trends are emerging. The most important of these is that new technology will reward the companies that are best organized.

“It’s not so much of a skill set as a maturity,” Shimamoto said. “To really be able to leverage outsourced services, you need a higher maturity in those processes and the management and the flow of your data.”

When a firm completes work in the office, it’s easier to take an ad hoc approach. Employees use their institutional and personal knowledge to complete processes and deal with aberrations. That changes when a firm needs to export the work, whether it’s to offshore workers or to AI. In both cases, structure helps.

For example, a sole proprietor might need a checklist of just four or five steps to document a process for herself. To teach it to an inexperienced colleague might take 15 steps. But conveying it to a worker outside the company — especially when there are language barriers — could require a 60-step plan, Shimamoto said.

A company with more uniform, documented processes also can capture more granular data — which is exactly what AI will need to thrive. Therefore, the company with the best-documented processes today will be best prepared to take advantage of new technology tomorrow.

Training for tech

Whether you’re thinking of the present or the future, consider these focuses for employee recruitment and training:

• Process analysis. Employees who are versed in project and process management will be able to incorporate new technology into the workflow.
  
• Data analysis. Analyzing the underlying data through current and emerging software tools — whether it’s Excel, a programming language, or a machine-learning tool — will allow employees to improve processes and see where technology fits. It also allows them to deliver more meaningful insights that can’t be automated.
  
• Communication. Tax CPAs will need to figure out how to best communicate insights in a way that’s meaningful to clients.
  

More than anything, companies must prepare their employees to be deeply knowledgeable but broadly adaptable.

“Say you’ve got a technology disruptor that says, ‘This part [of your business process] is all invalid.’ Can you actually adjust those processes?” Shimamoto said. “Or let’s say it’s actually an enhancer. Do you have enough understanding to take advantage of it?”

For Moore, it’s a question of whether new hires can truly grasp how data are flowing through the organization. But, beyond the technical skills, he also thinks that accountants can future-proof their work by providing the human guidance that their clients need.

“That’s a great need that will continue,” he said, “whether or not we can get more of their tax return automated.”

There is no denying the fact that modern day managers encounter mammoth challenges in their attempt to achieve organisational objectives.

These challenges are varied in and complex in nature. Consequently, it is important to identify the challenges so as to enable managers and chief executives understand art and science underlying managerial practices, especially as it relates to managing challenges.

The business environment is dynamic. The dynamism is seen as it relates market demand; technology, productivity, social responsibility, the use of modern and efficient communication system, the use of facilities external to organisations, the management of human resources and so on.

As a result of these ever present changing conditions and variables, orthodox and atavistic management methods may be thus grossly inadequate to meet the new challenges. This means that managers should thoroughly examine their existing facilities, policies, strategies and procedures and see where they are obsolete and call foe updating or are deficient and require urgent attention. In the process of examination and review of objectives, managers will identify limiting factors to achieving the set objectives of the organisation.

Management of Human Resource

The resources of every organisation includes among other things, physical, financial, time, information as well as human. However, among all these resources, the human element is the most important. It is the only animate resource. That is the reason the most critical and challenge of the modern day managers is the human problems. Most often, human resources challenges have been described as embarrassing and intractable.

There are many organisational problems that can be associated with human beings. These includes personality conflicts, which manifest in squabbles and serious quarrels, emotional and behavioral problems. Other human problems which can be manifested in other way includes the sudden change from cooperativeness and friendliness to inexplicable antagonism, hostility and dependency on alcohol and drugs for coping with the ordinary challenges of work and life. These problems do affect an individual’s work experience and effectiveness and consumes a greater part of the manager’s time.

Technological Development

Akin to the challenges of human resource is the one of technological development. Technology is the application of scientific principles to industrial problems while the improvement in machines, methods, materials, management and so on that results from this is refereed to as technological progress.

Thus a technological challenges arises when the manager is unable to cope with some technological innovations that enhance modes of doing thins in the business environment. Related to technology but most challenging is the use of modern communication systems. The use of modern communications system is one of the major challenges which managers today face. Although telecommunication system has improved in some countries, there still appear to be problems. Managers will have to find a way to solve their communication problem in order to efficiently and effectively achieve their organisation objectives.

Customer Relations and Service

The customer is the essence of the existence of any company. However, in a country like Nigeria, especially in the area of marketing there is the lack of appreciation, all round, of the importance or supremacy of the customer. This is due mainly to a combination of factors namely; the level of awareness and the level of education in the society, the fact the customer is not aware of his rights (consumerism is still emerging) and lastly the sellers market situation prevalent in the society.

People who are paid to give a service always give the impression that they are doing the purchaser of that service a favor by serving him. Be they managers, civil servants, bank staff, shop assistants, the attitude is the same. There is thus much to be done in absorbing the culture of social responsiveness among business leaders and managers.

Designing Creative Environment

It is still problematic and challenging for modern managers to design and maintain environment for creativity and innovation. This challenge is internally and externally induced. In the external analysis, in some developing countries it does not seem that the government is interested in the reduction of unemployment but not the creation of employment opportunities. So for the modern day managers grappling with the problem of inadequate infrastructure, government insensitivity in terms of creating investment friendly environment opens yet another challenge.

Internally, perhaps, there are in many firms too much conformity, too much togetherness and too much little individual responsibility and opportunity. However, it can never be forgotten that all group activities at any kind require some conformity towards the accomplishment of group goals. But this does not mean that intelligent managers cannot design roles for innovation and imagination where they are desired, while still maintaining needed conformity to make group cooperation effective. This is not easy but it is possible/ particularly for managers who are mindful of their basic task of designing for creativity and performance.

Social Responsibility

One of the challenges facing many managers today is the fulfillment of business social responsibility. The is more urgent than before because of the utter neglect of the communities in which many firms operate. Social responsibility demands somewhat that businesses provide, housing, transportation, health facilities, building of schools, award scholarships, donation of disaster affected areas, promotion of aesthetics, provision of culturally enriching and entertaining programmes on television and the like. Even the supply of high quality products to the market cannot be omitted in the areas of business social responsibilities. 

Maintain Flexibility to Meet Change

Another major challenge facing most modern managers is that of maintaining flexibility. Effective management is flexible management. Not only must effective managers be able to recognize the need for change but also in order to have time to meet it. they need to design methods of obtaining an organisational change in such areas as unproductive procedures and policies, obsolete organisational pattern and the normal human tendency to resist change.

Government Policy

Inconsistent government policies create an unstable environment for every manager. Many sectoral policies are made with reference to the operation of that sector. Every now and then representatives of sectors are crying out asking the government to rescind certain policies. In many instances such inconsistencies have caused national strikes. It distorts perspective planning as well as distracts forecasting focus of managers.

Conclusion

With the current state of competition orchestrated by globalization and liberation, businesses will need to invest more effort in the area of qualified human resource and technology if they are to achieve their goals and objectives and satisfy the needs of the public which are also multiplying.

Let’s get something straight before we go any further: teams always beat groups of individuals. Want to accomplish the impossible? Build a team. Looking to turn around a hopeless situation? Fire up a team. Trying to launch a new-to-the-world idea? Yep, you guessed it, a team is what you need. Turning a startup into a success only happens with hard work, determination and a team. Yet, somewhere along the journey between sketching out the world-beater idea on a napkin and turning that idea into reality, many entrepreneurs lose sight of the fundamentals that will bring them to the promised land of viability and profitability.

I call these principles the Unstoppable Team Fundamentals because if you’re truly in it to win it then you need an unstoppable mindset for you and your teammates. I’ve learned these leadership fundamentals the hard way — through multiple failures and a few remarkable successes that span my life’s journey from leading Navy SEAL platoons to founding Perfect Fitness, my company that makes Perfect Pushup and other revolutionary fitness devices.

In fact, these fundamentals apply regardless of your industry, business structure or startup focus. Disregard them at your own potential peril; heed them and you’ll discover that your greatest challenge will be dreaming up bigger entrepreneurial mountains for your teams to climb.

1. Use the “swim buddy” system

The single most important team in SEAL Team is the swim buddy; it’s also the smallest team. All SEAL teams are developed from the swim buddy system. Two swim pairs form a fire team, two fire teams form a squad and two squads form a platoon. (The names have changed slightly with the term “platoon” replaced with squadron but the basic premise remains.) The same holds true in the civilian world whether you’re just starting out, rebuilding or rebranding — it’s all about pairing people up. The goal of swim buddies is three-fold:

1. Pair an experienced person with an inexperienced member to rapidly close the learning gap. The faster you close the experience gap the stronger you make the “weakest” link of your team (the one with the least amount of experience).

2. Team up complementary skill sets to problem solve faster than individuals working alone in silos.

3. Bring together diverse backgrounds (i.e. diversity of thought) to spark creativity and overcome negativity within your organization.

Swim buddies aren’t forever — rotate people through the pairing up process and not only will they solve problems faster and more effectively they will also develop the critical bonds of trust needed to galvanize individuals into a selfless focused winning machine — an Unstoppable Team.

2. Model the way you want your team to perform

Understanding and articulating your company’s “why” is fundamentally important, but the “how” behind how you and your team execute drives your organization’s culture and ultimately, it’s brand. Your company’s brand is nothing more than a reflection of your culture, and culture is a reflection of your teammates’ actions…and guess where your teams’ reflection comes from? It comes right from the leader: you. No detail is too small when modeling the way for the organization you strive to build. Make no mistake, your actions are under a microscope.

What you do gets emulated not just internally but externally to your customers. J. Willard Marriott developed a simple rule to live by when he founded his company 92 years ago: “Take care of associates and they’ll take care of your customers.” That simple philosophy remains at the heart of Marriott’s leadership focus today (Marriott’s HR policy is called “Take Care”). You might think because you’re the inventor, creator or founder of the company, you can operate differently than others. Wrong! Products will come and go, but the single hardest thing to build and the easiest thing to lose is a winning culture focused on caring for each other, customers, contributors and the communities in which you operate. As the leader, always model the way in which you expect others to emulate.

3. Caring leads to daring

One of the greatest challenges of team building is getting people to relinquish their selfish ego-driven desire for personal gain and replace it with a selfless drive to help the team flourish. Legendary coach John Wooden said, “It’s amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.” The only way to help people transform from selfishness to selflessness is by showing how much you care for them. The goal is getting them to forget about worrying about their own “backs” and, instead, keeping them focused on caring for each other and the team goals. It takes time, transparency, consistency and thoughtfulness to prove to others that you have their “backs,” but when you succeed at proving to them how much you care about them, then they will start proving how much they will dare for you. Caring leads to daring. Seek ways to connect with your teammates — to understand their challenges and pressures not only during the work day but also in their personal lives. People are not robots, they have emotions which drive their behaviors. Unstoppable Teams are powered by care.

4. Hire for culture first

I don’t care how smart someone is — if they are a jerk or have some kind of caustic attitude they will become a liability in your team building process. When hiring people you want to look for what Eric Schmidt in Trillion Dollar Coach refers to as “smarts and hearts.” Seek competency and compassion that are a cultural fit for the “why” and the “how” of the organization you are building. You want diversity of thought but not diversity of heart. Make cultural fit a top priority when selecting people to join you on your entrepreneurial journey. There is hard evidence supporting the soft arts of emotional intelligence, and while you’re contemplating who to hire, know that women are instinctively better at building caring relationships. They typically have higher levels of oxytocin — the caring/nurturing hormone — then men do. If your team doesn’t have women on it, it may not be as unstoppable as it could be!

Team building is an imperfect science — it’s messy and at times frustrating but so incredibly worth it. We are all imperfect. We need each other, and how we form those bonds directly impacts how well we will succeed together. We are much more powerful together than we are standing alone. So, leaders, this is a call to step up, give it all you have and don’t you dare give up on going all-in every day…because that’s exactly what you need your team to do too as well: Go All-In All the Time.

Now go build an Unstoppable Team and make greatness happen!

The only thing running faster than airplanes in this world is a web. If you look around all you see is business promoted on networks, marketing being done on the internet, education imparted through the web; even the smallest business needs a web. If you have a company that doesn’t have a website or web app, you might be lagging behind the competition by leaps and bounds.

A web app puts you out to the world, gives you a platform, brings traffic to your site. If you have potential customers coming to your website, it will increase your profits. Having an app also boosts your business, keeping you ahead in technology and the market.

Increased visibility is one of the most critical factors.

Someone might have heard about you, but they will still want to search for you, check out your site, search the testimonials, reviews, credibility, and the services provided by your company. About 90% of the people say that they prefer visiting a web before actually working with you.

The size of your company doesn’t matter.

No matter how big or how small your business is, what matters is how you portray yourself. You could have 500 employees or five — it doesn’t matter — but you need a website. Secondly, you need an app.

An app uses a combination of server-side script (ASP or PHP) and client-side script (HTML or JavaScript) to develop the web application. The client-side script is used to showcase the information; on the other hand, the server-side script carries out complex functions like storing and retrieving the data.

An app can be developed based on the needs of your business and keeping in mind your business goals. These applications are known as custom web applications and can be designed strategically along with all of your custom web app development needs.

How does a web application work?

Why do you need a web application for your business? After the internet gets a search — the web server triggers and gives response or result to the customer.

• Step 1 – the web browser requests a dynamic page
• Step 2 – the web server responds to the request and finds the page to pass it to an application server further
• Step 3 – the applications server scans that page for any instructions
• Step 4–  the application server sends the query to the database driver
• Step 5 – driver executes the query against the database
• Step 6 – recordset is returned to the driver
• Step 7– the driver then further passes recordset to an application server
• Step 8 – application server inserts data in the page and then passes this page to the web server
• Step 9 – finally, the web server sends a finished and processed page to the requesting browser.

Every step will only take a fraction of a second to receive, process, and send the information to the client or customer.

Why is web application important for you and your business?

Today’s every business is looking for capable and faster ways to meet client’s demands and reach customers. Enterprises are developing web applications with the help of developers. Do what you have to, to have a useful web application. Having your website and an app to take your customers there will make all the difference in your product or services.

Primary user engagement: whenever someone thinks of engaging with any business, they first like to search about it. All your services, products, and reviews are displayed here. Hire a good web application development company that can help you create a web app that is ideally suited for your business.

Publicity: good publicity is a requirement of good business growth. Thus, a web application publicizes your organization to get potential customers and brands your products to them. The more a business is advertised, the better chances it has to be accessible and known to the people.

The convenience of access: customers these days want full access to any application from all the possible devices, and this governs how loved your business is. By providing a better application and seamless experience to a user, you can stay engaged with your customers at all times.

More user-friendly- this is a basic fact that if a customer is attracted to what it sees, he stays in it for a more extended period. Web applications can provide better user experience owing to its creative design, more features, and functionality that keeps customers coming back for more. Building your business is one of the reasons web app development is increasing day by day and gaining popularity all over the world.

Conclusion:

A web app will be one of the most profitable decisions you will ever make for yourself. Your app will solve most of your business problems.

If you have a small business or a large organization — an app will be an ideal choice for you if you are looking to increase customer traffic, make it accessible to clients, publicize your business or advertising yourself globally without being heavy on the pockets.

As a member of the learning
and development industry, I am bombarded with research, insights, event
invites, and models almost daily – each one promising to be the missing piece
that will ‘unlock potential’, ‘enhance performance’ or ‘change the game’.

Amongst all the noise, two
insights into human behaviour from the fields of psychology and behavioural
economics have stuck with me – the theory of ‘transactive memory’ and the
persuasive power of ‘nudges’. Every business should be across these concepts in
order to proactively challenge thinking and approaches, and achieve great
outcomes for everyone involved.

I could simply tell you to
Google transactive memory and nudges. Instead, I’d much rather share why I
think they’re so powerful and how you can apply them. As you’ll soon learn,
there’s a good chance you’ll go and Google them later anyway…

Google has changed how our brains remember information 

In 2013, I saw Betsy
Sparrow of Columbia University present her research findings on transactive
memory, and I still regularly revisit her studies. She and her team were interested in the potential impact the increased use of
search engines like Google has on our brains. It turns out that when faced with
a difficult question, our default response is often to go online and search for
the answer (sometimes even when we know what it is ). Not only that, but if
we’re learning something and know that we’ll be able to access the information
at a later stage (say, through a search engine or by asking the person who
initially shared), we actually end up with a lower ability to recall the
information itself. Rather than retaining the knowledge, we’re now better at
recalling where to access it.

The study concluded that
we’re starting to consider computers, and the information we know we can access
from them, as external storage of our own memory. This is known as transactive
memory. In a learning setting, whether we’re trying to discover something
ourselves, teach a team member, or educate a customer, our reliance on search
engines is a powerful consideration. 

Often, our role in business
– whether we’re leading, advising, or supporting customers – is to help people
better understand things so that they can become more successful. We might do
this through helping them make a connection between a task they need to perform
and a tool, image or resource that can enable them to do it better or faster.
The discovery of transactive memory should encourage us to focus as much on
sharing the information itself, as conveying how or where people can
find it when they need it down the track. This could be as simple as suggesting
they bookmark a helpful link, or pulling useful resources together into an
online hub. Rather than trying to cram everything into someone’s brain, help
them to fill their ‘external hard drive’ with powerful pathways they can access
long after your interaction.

Now that you know how our
brains have evolved to remember and recall information differently, it’s time
to explore the ways we can encourage desired behaviour and build positive
habits.

Our behaviour is often driven by ‘nudges’

A couple of years ago, I
was in the UK attending a conference on how to ‘change behaviour’ and ‘manage
change’. I’m inspired by what humans can achieve in optimal environments, and
at the time was immersed in leading a large scale behaviour change program.
Needless to say, I was up to my eyeballs in models and theories. I raised my
hand and asked, “What can we actually do to create the ideal
behaviours?”

In response, I was
expecting something deep about intrinsic motivation, purpose, and meaning.
Instead, the speaker responded with: “Nudges”.

Fast forward three years,
and I’m attending Arun Pradhan’s Learning Disruption event with leaders in the space from
across the globe. Arun introduced us to who we like to think we are: conscious,
rational, reflective, decisive, and clear on what we want. Daniel Kahneman
calls this higher effort approach ‘slow thinking’ in his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow. But, as it turns
out, we spend a lot of time in the lower effort, reactive, and error prone
‘fast thinking’ space. As a result, our actions and choices are often
subconsciously based on the path of least resistance, with preferences shifting
based more on emotions and less on rational outcomes.

So, how might we inspire
the right actions, choices and ultimately habits for ourselves, our teams, and
our customers, in a predominantly fast-thinking world?

You guessed it, nudges.

A nudge is, “Any aspect of
choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without
forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.” It
must be easy, attractive, social and timely. For example, you might auto-select
a tick box and ask someone to ‘untick’ if they don’t want to do a
particular thing, as opposed to asking them to tick to opt in. Same decision
and empowerment, less effort for the desired behaviour. You can read more about
nudges in Richard H. Thalers’ book, and see some incredible and often
hilarious examples of how these are being used to initiate desired behaviours
in this infographic. 

While there are obvious
applications within the marketing field, considering fast thinking and nudges
well beyond customer acquisition (not to mention, in your personal life) can
have huge benefits in empowering people to do what they do best, and enabling
them to focus on what’s most important.

You now know that our
reliance on search engines has started to cause us to retain information
differently, along with learning what we can do to encourage ideal behaviour.
Based on these insights, how might you change the way you educate your teams
and customers for positive impact? And what nudges might you introduce into
your workflows and experiences which drive positive actions and outcomes?

On the list of crucial things that determine if a small
scale business will stay relevant or fold up within a short while, money is
right on the top.

However, a startup could have lots of money, but without a
sufficient budget, finances would be mismanaged; eventually leading to their
folding up.

Without doubts, budgets are essential for any business that
wants to grow or thrive. Budgeting isn’t a reduction in the amount you’re
spending; that’s a misconception. However, an advantage of budgeting could be a
reduction in your cost per time, as unnecessary expenses would be cut out.

That being said, a budget is a financial tool that you can
use to predict your future expenditure in relation to your income. If you’re in
any financial difficulty, a budget is a handy tool to help you get out of that
situation. If you have a debt problem, then you need a budgeting solution.
While it is essential to draw budgets, drawing a sufficient budget is even more
critical. 

Here are 10 Tips that are sure to be highly useful for
beginners in this budgeting game

•    Just start!

Whether it’s a pen and a piece of paper or using a
spreadsheet that works better for you—get on it for a start. There are
software’s that could be of help too. The most important thing is not to merely
think of it, but to begin to act. 

•    Don’t beat
yourself up because you have to do a revision
Who says having to do a budget revision is a bad thing? As
your business grows and costs change, it is excellent to do a budget revision,
especially if the whole budget game is new to you. 

•    Start with the
smooth and specific plans and prices

Start with the income you’re sure to receive, expenses with
fixed rates and the likes of them. Starting like this makes it very easy to
draw the budget, so you don’t get discouraged on your first attempt. 

•    As a business
owner, your salary should be budgeted for as well

If you want your budget to be adequate, then every single
amount you plan to spend must be documented. This includes your salary, even as
a business owner. Never take the entire profit as your salary. It disturbs cash
flow within your business over time.

 

•    Remember to
budget for manpower

If you are looking to spread the reach of your business or
getting more resources to scale up your business, never leave out manpower. As
your plans get bigger, you would need more hands, and they need to be budgeted
for. 

•    Make some serious
projection into the future

It is vital that you take out time to live out the future
you want for your business in your imagination. By doing this, it would be easy
for your budget to cover up almost all the costs of your future projection.

•    Write notes

As you add more figures to the budget, write notes that can
be attached to it. This would help any other person looking at the budget in
the nearest future to understand why specific changes had to be made. Examples
of such notes could be something on the difference in the cost of a particular
material. 

•    Miscellaneous is
a must 

Unexpected legitimate expenses are a must. It is always
better to include them in your budget and as an unwritten rule; a 30% margin is
safe for unexpected costs. It will save you from the search for emergency
funds.

•    Employ an
Accountant or a Bookkeeper

Budgeting is so important such that even if you are
short-staffed, you must have an accountant or a bookkeeper at your disposal.
Remember, cash flow determines if your business will thrive or pack up. 

•    Embrace the
Process

Budgeting is a part of your business. Embrace it for what it
is and bring yourself to love the process. The earlier you get used to the
process, the better for you and your business.