Choosing the Right Pricing Model for Enterprise IT Services

The recent trends in digital transformation have paved the way for ensuring optimal business growth for enterprises. With the rates of public cloud adoption going up, it seems that leaders have recognized the potential of modern IT tools and technologies for generating better revenue. Simultaneously, organizations have also started to find alternatives to traditional IT infrastructure models and achieve improved agility in their operations.

Today, the cloud has become ideal for businesses to build enterprise applications at much lesser costs quickly. Cloud also allows them to utilize advanced technologies to scale their operations and stay competitive in the market. As new IT solutions are entering the industry every day, organizations need to identify the right platform to manage their workloads.

Read more: Private Or Public Cloud: Where Should My Business Invest? 

Choosing the right pricing model for enterprise IT services

Partnering with a reliable IT services vendor like Infince gives organizations the option to run workloads on-premises and on the public cloud. This works to bolster the security of sensitive company data further while ensuring superior operational efficiency. Although adopting the best IT models is always the goal of a business, leaders also look for responsive technology partners that can offer IT solutions at the best costs. So, it’s crucial to choose the right pricing model.

There are predominantly two types of pricing models for enterprise IT services – subscription-based models and consumption-based pricing. Choosing the right pricing strategy allows a business to scale their IT resources up or down as needed while saving some money in the process as well.

The consumption-based approach is usually the go-to option for companies that want to make their business operations more agile. On the other hand, a subscription-based model suits those who want to keep their budget under control while benefiting from the potential of modern IT tools and technologies. 

Read more: 5 Reasons For Small Businesses To Adopt SaaS Model 

Listed in this blog are three principal business areas that are primarily affected by your IT pricing model’s choice.

1. Enterprise IT Operations

In the past, launching a new IT project required considerable hardware and software investments. Sometimes, it also needed months of planning and execution to get it right. Today, businesses demand faster solutions that will allow them to launch an IT project on the go. It can be facilitated easily by collaborating with an agile IT services provider.

A subscription-based model means that you will need to pay upfront for receiving the services, be it cloud solution or on-premise. Some vendors also allow customizing the features in their subscription models so that you can decide which elements you will need to optimize the IT operations of your company. As the costs are determined based on the length of the subscription, long-term plans often mean lower business costs.

On the contrary, the consumption-based IT model allows you to pay for the services you use. While this can be a good option for those who have trouble keeping their IT systems updated with software updates and patches, it will need you to cherry-pick the required tools and technologies every time you want to launch an IT project. So it is vital to choose an end-to-end IT solutions provider when going with the consumption-based pricing model.

Read more: Infince – A One Stop Technology Solution for Small Business 

2. Running Workloads

Working with a reliable IT services vendor that will take care of everything from equipment maintenance and on-site configurations to training and support for your in-house team is always the best choice to stay ahead of competitors. That’s what Infince does for its customers. Infince’s technical concierge allows businesses to access IT support via phone, email, or live chat. The concierge helps you resolve the problem either by yourself or by arranging for a technician, depending on the challenge’s complexity.

When the IT vendor manages everything, a fixed recurring invoice can lead to better savings than paying every month. As subscription-based models are evolving, it gives you greater control and flexibility when choosing IT plans.

It also means determining your workload requirements adequately before choosing a pricing plan so that you can avoid all kinds of risks and keep a check on the costs. You can also use both public and hosted private clouds as per the plan to explore better opportunities to develop enterprise applications and services. Meanwhile, if you go with consumption IT plans, you can easily and quickly scale the IT resources on your terms and effectively run the workloads.

Moving between public clouds and on-premises setups can also be much cost-effective when it is consumption-based pricing. Enterprises can easily choose the business-critical applications necessary to improve performance or deal with any latency issues. Likewise, it can also be beneficial to pull back the workloads with highly sensitive business data that cannot be left off-premises.

Read more: How can modern IT management software empower companies to be more agile? 

3. Capacity Planning

IT capacity planning needs companies to evaluate their resource utilization, workforce needs, and application usage before buying the servers, storage, and network infrastructure from a vendor. In this case, using a subscription-based service works out because businesses can have a predictable expense to manage their revenue stream. Moreover, subscription models also save on the costs of full purchases to gain access to the IT tools required to cover their demands.

On the contrary, the consumption-based model, or the pay-as-you-go approach, allows organizations to make an immediate purchase for their unplanned IT decisions. This can help deal with sudden demand peaks that cannot be managed with the existing infrastructure. This also means that those who are not adept with capacity planning can benefit from consumption-based IT pricing strategies. A reliable vendor can also help you determine future capacity requirements and see if the resources are enough to meet those upcoming demands.

A subscription-based model can be a boon to businesses that need an all-in-one platform for their enterprise needs. For instance, Infince offers a vast pool of features to support the business’s changing needs for fixed pricing. Customers can also personalize the plans with added resources to match their current and planned needs, which will lead to better operational efficiency and productivity.

Read more: 5 Points To Consider While Choosing Your Enterprise Collaboration Software 

Selecting the right pricing model 

Choose consumption-based IT model, if you:

• Prefer maintaining a more agile business operations approach
• Need to shift too often from public cloud to on-site system
• Cannot determine future peak demands precisely
• Want scalable IT resources for unplanned potential workloads
• Do not have dedicated personnel or the resources to manage any software updates or IT maintenance work

Choose subscription-based IT model, if you:

• Need a greater level of control and flexibility over your IT plans
• Prefer to have a predictable monthly expense
• Have the capacity planning done right based on the predefined budget
• Do not want to look for the required tools and technologies every now and then for new IT projects
• Want a comprehensive solution for managing everything from IT systems configurations to training and support

Choosing an all-in-one business management solution can help you become flexible and responsive to meet the customer demands and ensure optimal growth for your business in today’s competitive environment. The final decision to go with usage-based models or subscription approach should be based on your business’s actual requirements.

Want to know more about the flexible pricing plans offered by Infince for businesses of all sizes and capacities? Contact us! 

Benefits of Monitoring Your Virtual Desktop Infrastructure in Real-time

As more and more companies send their workforces to operate remotely, the IT market is witnessing a surge in demand for VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure). The development of the high-performance network 5G and next-generation computing devices make VDI an integral aspect of cloud computing today. 

For those who are not familiar with VDI, here is a simple definition. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) refers to the technology that employs virtual machines to manage virtual desktops. It hosts virtual desktop environments on a centralized server so that they can be deployed immediately upon request by end-users. It differs from desktop virtualization in the sense that VDI can be both persistent and non-persistent.  

Desktop virtualization is a general umbrella term that covers any technology employed to break-up a desktop environment from the system hardware that is used to access it. While Virtual Desktop Infrastructure can be considered a type of desktop virtualization, VDI can be implemented in multiple ways like managing remote desktop services.

Read more: How IT Teams Can Prepare to Support Remote Workforce During COVID-19 

How Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Works

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure uses a hypervisor to separate a server into different virtual machines that have the capability to host virtual desktops. These virtual desktops can be accessed by end-users remotely from their devices, while the host server will do all the processing and manage the allocation of resources. VDI can also have software-based gateways to let users connect to the appropriate virtual desktop environment securely.

In persistent Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, users connect to the same virtual desktop environment every time they access it. This makes it easier to customize the desktop for their specific needs, such as a personal physical desktop. In non-persistent VDI, users connect to generic virtual desktop environments, and there is no need to maintain any customized desktop environment between sessions. This allows companies to manage their resources effectively with a large set of employees that do not need a tailored desktop.

Key Benefits of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

In the modern-day scenario, VDI can help businesses overcome the challenges that legacy systems posed. This can be in terms of user mobility, ease of access, security, flexibility, and performance. Organizations can now use hyper-converged infrastructure to facilitate greater scalability and high performance at significantly low costs. 

Although VDI may seem a bit complex to some businesses, the enterprise adoption of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure can benefit the company.

1. Effective Centralized Management

VDI works based on a centralized format, which allows the IT team to update, patch, or configure multiple virtual desktops within the network quickly.

Read more: Top 4 Advantages of Centralized IT Administration for Your Business 

2. Seamless Remote Access

VDI lets users connect to the virtual desktop environment from any location using any device, making it more flexible and convenient for different teams to collaborate on a project.

3. Better Cost Savings

VDI handles all the processing tasks at the server level, which keeps the hardware requirements for end-user machines in check, leading to better cost savings for the organization.

4. High-end Security

VDI manages data on the server, making it easier to protect sensitive enterprise information with high-end security features rather than managing security at multiple endpoint devices.

5. Superior Performance

VDI can be used in all kinds of business scenarios as it allows deploying virtual desktops for end-users on-demand efficiently, thereby boosting the remote workforce’s performance.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is also ideal for organizations that have BYOD policies in effect. As the centralized server will handle all the processing jobs, VDI can accommodate a broader range of devices while maintaining endpoint security and data integrity. However, managing VDI involves dealing with an extreme level of complexity. So, there could be many scenarios that will create challenges for the company.

Read more: 5 Ways Virtual Private Server Make a Difference to Your Business’s Digital Future 

How Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Monitoring Helps

The most common challenges in employing VDI are:

• interruptions in the network connection, 
• poor user experience, and 
• issues related to functionality. 

Troubleshooting virtual desktop environments can be overwhelming for the IT team. So, using Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring tools is a viable solution.

VDI monitoring refers to monitoring, reviewing, and managing the functions, operations, and performance of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure environment in an organization. It allows easy implementation of troubleshooting steps while facilitating security appraisal and better performance management. Nonetheless, VDI monitoring involves dealing with several processes and methodologies across the virtual desktop environment endpoints and the hypervisor layer, making it an intricate and extensive process.

VDI Monitoring: Setting Up the Objectives

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring uses a dedicated application or a virtual monitor to manage its operations. This allows the system to track user activity, operational status, security features, resource allocation, and more at every layer of the VDI. This makes it essential to define the monitoring platform’s objectives to effectively address all the problems related to operations, connectivity, and infrastructure. In general, the VDI monitoring tool should:

• Provide the necessary insights on all the levels of the VDI, including the hypervisor, virtual machines, and software-based gateways
• Provide extensive visibility of the networks, routers, communications links, servers, and applications of the platform
• Provide reports based on these levels of visibility to resolve the identified problems in the infrastructure or general platform

VDI Monitoring: Choosing the Tools

Selecting the tools for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring relies on the nature of the problem. Some VDI monitoring tools are designed to address the server-side issues, while some focus mainly on the client-side issues. Nevertheless, VDI monitoring should be based on a broader outlook of problems at every level of the infrastructure and the platform. Typically, VDI monitoring tools can be classified into three groups:

• Management and monitoring tools from VDI solutions providers that work on a licensing scheme and are more administration oriented
• Tools specially designed to review, monitor, and manage VDI platforms, which support the development of a hybrid structure for problem resolution
• General-purpose monitoring tools that cover VDI projects and allow organizations to evaluate the performance of the platform based on varied metrics

Ensuring Success

To ensure successful Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring and guarantee optimal performance, it is vital to choose a reliable VDI monitoring tool packed with powerful features to track every aspect of the virtualization platform, network, applications, and server. Simultaneously, IT teams should be trained in employing VDI architecture, its various transactions, and elements. IT teams should also possess the technical knowledge to monitor the VDI in real-time to ensure that all the operations continue running smoothly.

Infince, a remote work platform, empowers your remote teams with access to their digital workspaces through powerful, secure, and flexible virtual desktops, anytime. Focus on your business, while we take care of the setup and maintenance of your virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and applications. Get in touch with us to learn more. 

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford.

Team collaboration is the main element in a business that spurs innovation, develops creativity, enhances productivity, and boosts employee satisfaction. When individuals come together openly, all the processes and objectives become more streamlined, steering the team towards a better success rate of achieving a common goal. A collaborative atmosphere makes each team member a potential resource or a tool that other members can rely on to make better decisions. This healthy employee relationship is what makes a company anticipate better business performance and productivity.

Team collaboration has always played an essential role in ensuring business growth. Post-pandemic, it has become indispensable to unite your employees and overcome the work silos that remote work culture has spiked. Setting up effective team collaboration in your organization requires proper planning and strategy.

The inevitable role of a team collaboration software

For creating an impactful collaborative environment, you may want to make use of team collaboration software like Infince. A team collaboration tool comprises all the essential features and functionalities needed to enhance your organization’s teamwork. 

For instance, Infince facilitates quick and streamlined communication among employees through live-chat, video calls, and virtual meetings, a crucial factor in improving teamwork.

Read more: 6 Ways Online Collaboration Software Helps Manage Your Virtual Team 

As far as improving your team’s collaboration strategy, you can consider these tips in 2021. 

1. Combine innovative ideas

In addition to bringing ideas and plans to the table, a project manager is also responsible for weaving in their teams’ suggestions, ideas, and objectives to achieve a perfect amalgamation. A project involving complexity and multifaceted elements require agile policies, including innovation from all stakeholders and parties to achieve goals. Real-time data availability helps participants comprehend and differentiate between advantageous and disadvantageous actions and instantly make amendments. It implies that successful team collaboration combines the most-suitable ideas and the promptness of being adaptive and flexible.

2. Everyone must have a say

Effective team collaboration is an art that requires filling the gaps between differing ideas and transforming them into feasible solutions. A collaborator needs to be an active listener to get to the root of an idea or proposal. Listening patiently to everyone with a stake in the outcome is inevitable to map the course better. When everyone has a voice in the room, it becomes easier to confirm and clarify the information shared and discuss the details in real-time. This way, a great collaborator can respond effectively when all participants’ suggestions have been duly heard.

Implementing this strategy for team collaboration is very important as team members want to feel valued and be ensured that they are more than just employees.

3. Create an energetic environment

An ideal collaborator must ensure that everyone is working with enthusiasm. For this, they can stimulate motivation and energy into a team meeting or group conversation by allowing the team members to share their ideas and suggestions. A collaborator must always appreciate team members who play their part well. Criticisms should be polite and thoughtful and help employees realize their role and its significance in making the project successful.    

Issues that need attention should be discussed in such a way that the discussion motivates the team. The most vital asset of a successful project is a team that collaborates well.  

4. Sustain a friendly atmosphere

As a collaborator, you must always be open and available to suggestions as you never know from where you may get that million-dollar idea. Not only this, but a friendly atmosphere is also vital for building trust among team members. When employees feel confident and comfortable to share their opinions and concerns, it becomes easier to make workplace relationships successful. Keeping your door opens to new suggestions, accomplishments, and thoughtful criticisms empower the team collectively. This practice leads to healthier teamwork, better trust, quick problem-solving, and eventually enhanced business performance.

Read more: How Successful Leaders Engage Employees Using Modern Business Communication Tools like Infince 

5. Transparency brings excellency

An effective collaborator is not concerned with roles and titles as much as they are with the results. When a group member brings a sound suggestion to the table, the collaborator should always give full credit to the team or individual to motivate them.

Besides, an effective collaborator should share information and define expectations throughout the board. Such transparency in communication allows team members to trust the company for keeping things apparent. When the required details are shared with the team, it brings a sense of workplace community, augmenting the spirit of collaboration among employees.

6. Work should feel like fun

A project or a company tastes success when trust, motivation, and morale are high among the employees. Organizations need to motivate team members by organizing team outings, dinner parties, games, and events that help build strong connections between various departments. 

Building such a fun and friendly atmosphere among team members fosters a sense of accountability that goes past schedules and deadlines.

7. Rise above inflexibility

Just like the joined blocks that make up a building, team collaboration builds up a workplace. Although workgroups are known for tending to the silo, modern workplaces function well when employees have the freedom to work without boundaries. Instead of working individually, foster team collaboration to ensure that all the members are accountable for their participation.

Effective team collaboration in business ensures that individuals realize their value in helping a company achieve the desired objectives collectively. Team collaboration helps transform a business environment into an atmosphere that makes employees feel like family.

Read more: 5 Points To Consider While Choosing Your Enterprise Collaboration Software 

Benefits of integrating Infince team collaboration software

• Infince offers enhanced data security by ensuring data privacy through advanced firewalls, virtual private servers, and encryption-based access.
• Reliable support through various communication channels like phone, email, and live chat helps companies determine the appropriate solutions.
• The zero-coding feature of Infince allows you to set up a domain, mail server, website, and business applications in no time.
• No hidden charges if you ever wish to increase your server capacity and data storage.
• The user-friendly interface allows you to carry out tasks quickly and uninterruptedly.

Read more: 5 Features of Infince that will Transform The Way You Work 

Whether your business needs to build an IT infrastructure or requires specific apps for team collaboration, Infince helps you get the desired business tools and software to achieve your objectives. Get in touch with our expert to understand how Infince can boost team collaboration at your workplace.

How to Evaluate and Choose the Right Intranet Software for Your Business

A business intranet is a portal that gives your employees all the relevant data and tools to perform their jobs. Your intranet software can go a long way in keeping your employees engaged, improving their experience, boosting their productivity, and achieving better business volume. Your intranet solution helps keep your teams updated with the latest company information and provide them a platform to share their ideas for the company’s collective good.

Why Do You Need a Business Intranet Solution?

There are several reasons why you should choose a business intranet system. From improved workflows to seamless communications, investing in an all-in-one team collaboration solution can be a great way to ensure optimum organizational growth. Here are a few reasons why you need to implement an intranet solution.

Enhanced Internal Communication

For a long time, organizations have been using intranet portals for improving internal communications. With advanced features like video conferencing and instant messaging, modern team collaboration software can facilitate superior one-on-one and group communications. You can integrate video, audio, emails, social connections, and more to your intranet solution to get your teams to communicate and collaborate in a much better way.

Read more: 5 Best Practices To Enable Seamless Communication For Your Remote Workforce 

Greater Document Control

With a company intranet solution, you can also connect different people working on the same documents and avoid any confusion that could arise in the process. It also helps to ensure that your remote staff can access and update the records on their end to complete the assigned tasks on time. Advanced all-in-one business collaboration software comes with cloud storage features as well to make things further simpler.

Simplified Information Sharing

Business intranets can make information sharing more comfortable, ensuring that your teams are aligned with the organizational goals always and do their part to achieve those objectives. Easy access to company data and tools, alongside improved communications and better document control, also makes it simpler to provide new employees training through different channels and content management systems.

Evaluating and Choosing the Best Intranet Software

Implementing an intranet solution in your company can have manifold benefits, but it would not serve the purpose if your employees do not make the most of it. Therefore, you need to make the right choice when selecting an intranet platform so that it can make your digital workplace effective and successful. 

Read more: 5 Points To Consider While Choosing Your Enterprise Collaboration Software

Here are five tips that will help you make an informed decision while buying an intranet solution.

1. Understand Your Requirements 

It would be best if you were clear about what you are seeking to achieve with the intranet solution and how the change will help to facilitate your plans. This way, you can define your goals with the move and make sure that everyone on your team can get on board without hesitation. Likewise, it would help if you also educated your team members about the intranet platform’s potential.

2. Evaluate Intranet Capabilities

While improved communication and seamless collaboration should be your priorities when choosing an intranet solution, you should also assess the other features you can use after its implementation. This way, you can prioritize the elements that would help to make your business collaboration better and lead to improved employee and customer experience, and eventually, profitable business growth.

3. Assess Different Intranet Solutions

Once you are clear about your needs and the features you want to make your existing business processes better, look for different intranet solutions that can effectively fulfill your demands. Compare the features included in the pricing plans, understand the pros and cons of each solution, and see how they suit your organizational needs as well as budgetary requirements. 

4. Align it With Your Business Strategy

There should be a connection between your business strategy and the digital workplace. The intranet solution and plan you choose should strengthen your business case and empower your employees to make their jobs easier. So you also need to assess how your intranet platform aligns with your key business metrics like short-term and long-term targets, flexible working requirements, product developments, and more.

5. Check Resource Requirements

The cost will always come into play whenever you look to upgrade your business infrastructure, and buying an intranet solution is no exception. Yet you should also check if you have all the adequate resources and technology to support your intranet platform. That is why you need to figure out a realistic estimate to implement the intranet system and ensure that it will cover your long-term goals with the solution.

Wrapping Up

A business intranet solution will provide your workforce with all the tools and information they need to boost communication, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing capabilities. It will, in turn, make your digital workplace more efficient and lead to improved business processes. An intranet software enables you to mitigate the common risks associated with digital transformation and deliver a far better employee and customer experience.

Read more: 5 Features of Infince that will Transform The Way You Work 

Whether your team is working together or remotely, Infince makes sure that your people can effectively communicate, connect, and engage seamlessly! Infince’s intranet is powered by shareable dashboards, blogs, wiki, communication apps, and productivity tools that will transform employee communications across your organization. Contact us to learn more. 

How can an integrated cloud platform turn your business competitive?

Across the world, businesses of all sizes are increasingly managing their operations through digital tools such as an integrated cloud platform. The benefits of such a cloud platform extend not just to big businesses but also to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segment where cloud technology has made a significant impact. 

The State of Cloud Adoption Amongst SMEs

SMEs are undoubtedly a major contributor to the global economy. While individually, they would not be a significant job creator, the collective market they open up for both jobs and economic contribution cannot be ignored. As competition increases every year and with pandemics like COVID-19 wrecking entire economies in a matter of months, SMEs must stay focused on delivering maximum value from minimal expenditure. As always, turning to digital transformation will be the key element that brings about a competitive edge to SMEs and helps them serve the large digital-savvy customer base worldwide.

No other technology has made business stronger and more profitable for SMBs as the feat achieved by cloud computing. 59% of small businesses that use the cloud have found to be enjoying more productivity benefits than those who are not on the cloud. Additionally, 82% of small business organizations that moved to the cloud reported that they reduced costs considerably with cloud technology.

Now let’s move back to the initial discussion about the benefits of an integrated cloud platform to manage operations, for a small business. Today, there is no shortage of cloud-based business applications that propel SMEs into the same competitive advantage position that bigger companies have with their spending power. 

So how can SMEs make the most of a cloud platform to get an edge over their competition? Here are 5 ways:

1. Connected Business Value

An integrated cloud platform for business management provides a medium for businesses to manage their entire ecosystem of digital applications in one place. From functions such as CRM and marketing automation to deal with customers and ERP and HRM to handle internal operations, there is a need to bring a streamlined workflow that connects insights from each department and makes it available for general consumption. 

Read more: 5 Reasons Why Every SMB Should Invest In An ERP Solution 

A cloud platform-based business management software empowers businesses to achieve this feat at ease. When all stakeholders of a business value chain are brought into a single collaborative platform, it becomes easier to offer better services at a faster pace to customers.

2. Easier Development of New Features

Over time, your business may require newer capabilities in its digital channels to remain competitive. These features and capabilities may be required across different applications or business departments and incorporating them should not be an overly complex endeavor. 

With an integrated cloud platform, newer business applications or features could be developed by business users with low code application development mechanisms, facilitated by such platforms. In fact, Gartner estimates that by 2021, nearly 30% of manufacturing organizations will entrust their digital teams to build new features with low code technology. With an integrated business management platform, it becomes easier to maintain a common technology architecture and extensible APIs onto which new features can be easily built and deployed.

Read more: How Workplace Technology and Culture Will Evolve in 2020 & Beyond

3. Reduced Operational Costs

Having disconnected and disparate digital applications in your technology ecosystem can push up operational costs as each system may need access to a different talent pool of specialists for any maintenance or development activity. Having an integrated platform deployed on the cloud will ensure that there is a need only for a single point of contact for all maintenance and development needs. The unified technology architecture makes it easier for newer developers to build features that can be shared across units without the need for development and deployment effort in each individual business system across units. This will greatly improve cost savings in the long run.

Read more: 3 Strong Reasons for Your Business to Embrace Cloud-based IT Services 

4. Seamless Organizational Data Management

By leveraging a cloud platform, businesses can enable different sub-functions or departments to work simultaneously on the same digital data from across systems and ensure that all have access to the latest version of files as well. With an integrated system, businesses can save on data re-engineering and re-modeling efforts for interoperability between systems. 

Having a centralized business management platform on the cloud also provides a single source of truth as far as key business data is concerned. Management can draw up analytical reports, insights on performance, evaluate metrics of growth, and much more easily from a unified system of applications that cater to multiple business units. Data synchronization and real-time updates allow organizations to maintain the integrity of business data and enable transparency between departments accessing or working on the same data.

5. Easy Cultural Adaptability

When the core business operations are managed and run by software on the cloud, it becomes easier for businesses to respond to cultural changes that may happen abruptly. A striking example is the COVID-19 pandemic which forced hundreds of thousands of businesses to transition into a work from home or remote operations model for employee safety. Those that had a digital core managed by an integrated cloud platform faced no disruption as employees could carry out their daily tasks from the comfort of their homes by securely accessing the organizational cloud system whereas those that did not use such a mechanism found their business to be disrupted for days due to delays in facilitating work from home for all staff.

Read more: How Infince Helps You Quickly Transit to Remote Working

How Infince Helps

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world, it was predicted that nearly 78% of all small businesses will fully adopt cloud computing by the end of 2020. By moving to the cloud, they not only realize the benefits of scalability and cost-efficiency but also set the pace for the rapid proliferation of digital transformation. With a powerful integrated cloud platform at the core of operations, enterprises can propel their digital future to new heights. Making the right choice for such a cloud platform is all that matters in this case. If you’re thinking about making the switch to the cloud, then Infince can be the answer you were looking for. 

With years of expertise in powering the digital backbone of successful businesses worldwide, Infince can become the central business management platform of your business handling everything from ERP to Sales and CRM functions. Get in touch with our experts to learn more.

Is your KPI Tracking Software pursuing these 5 metrics?

Achieving sustainable growth is vital for businesses of all sizes today. With pandemics like COVID-19 showing how unexpected events have the potential of wrecking global economies in the blink of an eye, it is important for today’s businesses to have a well established Key Performance Index driven metrics to track for their business growth. By following these metrics closely, a business can be better prepared to combat threats from competition, changing market trends, disruptive market forces like pandemics, and ensure that there is steady cash flow even in the most challenging of times. These KPI metrics should be on the organization’s business dashboard software which will be reviewed and closely monitored by the leadership and will form the foundation of all strategic initiatives and decisions taken by the board or top management. So now the question is what are those KPI metrics that need to be tracked on an organization’s business dashboard software to ensure sustainable growth? 

Here are our top 5 picks:

1. Cash To Revenue Position

In the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic, China was one of the worst affected economies. Studies showed that nearly 85% of small and medium enterprises (SME) were projected to run out of cash in a timeframe as low as 2 months due to severe lockdowns leading to restrictive economic activity. 

Cash to revenue position is an indication of how well endowed is an enterprise to deal with emergencies and how much liquid cash they have at their disposal to invest in measures to counter low revenue scenarios such as pandemics or weak consumer spending. When the position is better, business owners or management has breathing space to make amendments in their operational style when revenue channels are disrupted and without having to take drastic measures such as cutting jobs or delaying bills. This is definitely an important metric that needs to be on every business KPI dashboard software and monitored regularly.

Read more: Creating Organizational, Department, Team and Personal Dashboards using Infince

2. Customer Acquisition Costs

For any business to survive, there is a need for customers to spend money on their products or services. In the business world, it has been proven through studies that acquiring a new customer would incur more than 5 times the cost it takes to retain an existing one. As such, customer acquisition costs have the potential to consume the budgets of several departments like sales, marketing, and IT. So, leaders need to keep a tab on spending in this section and this is precisely the reason why customer acquisition costs are an important metric that needs to be tracked via an organization’s KPI dashboard software.

3. Outbound Marketing Performance

Marketing is the engine that fuels sales. The better a business is able to market its offerings to the right audience, the greater will be the business returns in terms of sales revenue. However, marketing needs to be a highly disciplined and well-tracked activity, especially for small and medium businesses. 

Conversion rates from marketing activities are important in ensuring that a business always has a healthy leads pipeline that the sales department can focus on and convert into deals in due course of time. Using intelligent marketing analytics and automation platforms, businesses need to track their ROI on every single dollar spend and correlate to the leads or business opportunity, or social influence that a marketing campaign was able to generate. 

While sales are in itself a large activity that can be tracked through a separate KPI in an organization’s KPI tracking software, it can also be clubbed with the marketing KPI in small businesses. The reason is that in smaller organizations, it is quite common for marketing and sales to be functioning as a single entity sharing a lot of human and technology resources and well synchronized towards a common goal.

Read more: Focus on these 5 KPIs to improve small business growth

4. Operational Efficiency

Improving the quality of labor is vital for businesses to survive in the long run. Studies show that 52% of SMB owners find it hard to hire a quality workforce. So, the next biggest challenge here is to maintain productivity. Every business organization will have its unique list of business processes, policies, and frameworks on which they operate daily. As the competition tightens, it is important to work as a lean business organization with more agility to ensure that customer needs are understood and fulfilled at the earliest. For this to happen, there is a need for seamless operational efficiency. 

Read more: 5 Key Features Every Project Management Dashboard Should Offer 

It is important to keep track of the time it takes for a sales process to be completed, the number of sub-processes involved, the amount of productive time an employee or team spends in a project or sales transaction, and other similar elements that need to be measured. Once these are known, it becomes easier for decision-makers to re-engineer processes and work frameworks regularly to cope with changing trends in the market and help employees adopt new additions to the business easily, such as new software or new machinery in a manufacturing unit. 

The training process can be tweaked in line with new learning norms prevalent in the market and made easy and highly accessible for employees so that they can speed up the learning activity. Both the employee performance as well as the operational efficiency of the business thus need to be tracked efficiently in an organizational KPI tracking software.

5. Employee Engagement

Employees are just as important as customers to a business. Ensuring that they are well-taken care of is a key milestone that every business must strive to achieve. Studies show that 71% of executives believe that employee engagement is key to ensuring successful business growth. While measuring it as a KPI, employee engagement will include a vast majority of key indicators of employee wellbeing. Some examples of items to be evaluated for this KPI include employee turnover, attrition rates, revenue per employee, hiring budgets, etc. Insights from this metric are important to plan the future expansion of the business as you always need employees to drive your business forward in all circumstances.

Read more: 5 Benefits Of Having A Centralized Employee Dashboard In Your Business  

The above 5 metrics give a clear picture of whether your business is progressing in the right direction. Having a regular watch on these will ensure that you are prepared well for any emergencies or disruptive situations that may occur in the future like the COVID-19 pandemic. To drive maximum results, it is important to have a digital backbone that will enable all units in your business to seamlessly measure KPIs and perform according to expectations in their respective tasks. This is what Infince can help you achieve with its range of business applications available on a secure cloud platform. Get in touch with us for more details.

How to Stay on Top of Video Conferencing Software Security

Video conferencing has emerged as one of the simplest solutions to overcome the challenges of social distancing and restrictions on physical meetings amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As more and more businesses are implementing video conferencing solutions for managing their day-to-day operations, the trend has led to the development of a wide range of collaboration platforms as well. However, as the demand grew, it brought along a few security challenges too.

Read more: 10 Benefits of Using Business Communication Apps to Future-Proof Your Company 

Businesses utilizing a video meeting platform to communicate with their team, clients, and customers need to understand that remote video conferencing carries an inherent data risk as well. That is why you need to ensure that you adopt the right cybersecurity measures to protect your organization’s confidential data. Below are 5 ways to help you keep your shared data safe while ensuring increased productivity and collaboration.

1. Monitor your network security

Implementing adequate network security measures is vital for keeping sensitive business data safe from hackers. It does not matter how secure the devices are that you use to connect to the video conferencing software; if you do not have proper network security, anyone can obtain the details shared via video conference by gaining access to the company network.

You can use encrypted passwords and customized firewalls to secure your network. Likewise, you should also use Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication for all users to reduce the risks of network breaches due to compromised user credentials. As SSO credentials are strategically linked to the specific user’s authorization and entitlements, it will help to monitor and control access to all the video conferencing units in case the user credentials are compromised.

2. Assess your current video meeting platform

If you are using a legacy video conferencing software solution, then you could be dealing with an outdated platform with weak security features. Even the best meeting software that performed well a couple of years ago can be at risk of security breaches if it is not updated regularly with the latest security patches. That means putting your employees, customers, clients, and your company reputation at risk. 

Note that installing updates may not work after a certain point for older video conferencing technology. So it will be wiser to upgrade to a reliable, modern team collaboration software like Infince. Users can enjoy enhanced communication, without the fear of data breach through Infince’s video conferencing platform. 

Read more: Why Is Infince A Better Choice For Safe Video Calling Than Zoom

The latest video meeting solutions come with advanced data encryption features that will help to keep your online conferences private and shared data safe and secure.

3. Use tough-to-crack video conference passwords

In order to keep your video conferences secure, you need to secure both your software and hardware with 128-bit AES protection. This security measure will allow your video meeting platform to use a 128-bit key to encrypt and decrypt all the video calls. As it works by automatically generating secured keys before the start of each video conference, it makes cracking the passwords virtually impossible for hackers.

You should ensure that you secure all your new business conferences, instant video calls, personal meetings, and attendees with unbreakable 128-bit encryption. It is also important that you never shared the video conference links via open channels like social media, as it will make it very easy for hackers to hop into your video conferences and try to steal secure company data.

4. Get the best meeting software with domain-based approach

There are a lot of video conferencing solutions out there, but not all of them follow the domain-based approach to security. Choosing such a provider will help you to make sure that all the attendees can collaborate in a well-controlled and secure environment. Moreover, it will also ensure that you do not connect your video conferencing software directly to the internet without a firewall.

Regardless of whether it is managed by the video conferencing provider or by your in-house IT team, domain-based security will allow you to assign various levels of user permissions to have better control of the video conferences. This way, if hackers try to hop into your video meetings, they will not be able to enter the system without you granting access.

Read more: Top 10 Alternatives to Microsoft Teams that Aid Remote Work in 2020 

5. Ensure robust privacy policies

Choosing the best meeting software for your video conferencing needs also has the benefit of reliable privacy policies. Check that the video meeting solution you use has clear policies on the collection of user information as well as meeting content for any kind of advertising or marketing efforts. Moreover, you should also create a video conferencing policy for your company to establish clear guidelines and expectations for all users.

You should have a well-defined privacy policy that specifies who can connect to the video conferencing software remotely and how they should access and use the shared data. You can even prepare a list of team members, pre-approved clients, customers, and vendors, who can gain access to specific meetings to bolster the security of your video conferences.

Apart from following all the above-stated guidelines, you should also ensure that your employees are educated on how to host and manage a secure video conference. For that, you can conduct training sessions to explain the specific steps, recommended security settings, and company policies that they should follow to maximize video conferencing security.

Want to know how Infince can elevate your video calling experience with robust security and exceptional collaboration features? Get in touch with our expert today.  

Win a Free iPhone 12 by Joining the Giveaway Contest from Infince!

Infince, the next-generation enterprise cloud platform has launched a new giveaway contest for participants with an offering to win a brand new iPhone 12. Participants can easily take part in this contest by-

1. Following Infince on LinkedIn – @Infince or Twitter – @INFINCE1 (Can also follow on both the platforms)
2. Liking the post/tweet
3. Sharing the post/tweet with the hashtag #InfinceforBusiness

Participants who are at least 18 years of age can enter the contest and stand a chance to win the upcoming iPhone 12 from Infince. The giveaway contest closes at 11:59 PM PT on December 31, 2020. Winning contestants will be chosen randomly and announced on January 5, 2021, via private message. 

Over the years, Infince has evolved into a state-of-the-art cloud platform built to meet the demands of the modern enterprise. Its powerful cloud suite brings seamless collaboration options and centralized IT management within reach for businesses. Besides, Infince’s new version comes fully compatible with 5G networks. With this, it is much easier for business owners to quickly transition into a 5G-ready infrastructure, which brings lightning-fast data speeds to maximize their remote working capabilities and collaborate with teams like never before. 

Infince is a flagship product of Fingent, an established global IT company that specializes in delivering strategic business solutions and services to tackle complex business problems across a wide variety of industries such as retail, finance, healthcare, education, etc. With over a decade of expertise, Fingent has been redefining businesses with cutting-edge technology solutions that bring down complexity and ultimately provide value. 

Why Businesses Should Make Cloud their Number One Priority

In the initial days of business technology adoption, many companies were using technology only as a supporting tool for their operations. But today, these companies are turning their technology ecosystem into a mainstream revenue source. 

If you were to enquire about the most influential tech that spurred such a digital innovation for businesses of all sizes in the past decade, the answer will be cloud computing. The world of digital was thrown open for SMBs primarily with the growth of cloud computing over the last 10 years. Experts say that on a global scale, cloud-hosted workloads have grown from 45% in 2018 to 60% in 2019.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have started realizing more about the advantages of cloud-hosted digital channels. 57% of businesses that were surveyed recently report that their cloud adoption has increased anywhere between 26-31% after the pandemic’s strike. 

Besides, the growing digital-savvy consumer base is more than happy to welcome cloud-powered digital channels launched by their favorite brands. So businesses cannot turn away from the cloud-enabled customer and employee engagement channels.  

There are several factors that make cloud-based IT services the need of the hour. This post explores the top 3 reasons that accelerate cloud adoption among businesses:

1. Cost advantage

With cloud computing, an enterprise has the option to pay for only what they use from a technology perspective (pay per use). It could be anything from the number of users, storage capacity, computing power, bandwidth, or any combination of these. 

Unlike the traditional model of building an on-premise technology ecosystem that serves a large workforce to run critical business applications within a business premise, companies can tap into the power of modern-day digital platforms powered by Cloud, with just a web browser or through a mobile app or mobile site. This brings in a huge reduction in the IT operational costs and is one of the key reasons for the growth of cloud computing over the years.

2. Freedom to scale at will

For most businesses today, the rate of growth of their business will be highly dynamic in nature. There may be sudden spikes of consumer demand according to seasonal events like for example, retailers facing increased consumer spending during the holiday season. As with the spike, there may be periods of very low sales or growth volumes depending on various factors like for example the reduced spending by consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The traditional model of having a dedicated in-house digital platform to handle operations would thus require you to invest in installing high power machines and processing power at all times to meet surges in demand even though the surge will only be witnessed occasionally. With cloud-based digital platforms, businesses have the freedom to scale up or down depending on demand from their end consumers. They do not have to maintain any dedicated infrastructure, pay for full performance all through the year, or waste computing power without purpose. 

For instance, Infince’s cloud-based remote work collaboration platform offers you a dedicated IT infrastructure that’s well supported, maintained, and upgraded by us from time to time. This saves you from making any additional investments to spruce up your infrastructure forced by your public cloud service provider. 

3. Access to Continuous Innovation

One of the major disadvantages of on-premise software is that they turn obsolete in very short time frames. Newmarket innovations happen almost yearly or at even shorter time frames. This will force businesses to continuously invest in buying newer systems every year to keep up with competitors in terms of features. Cloud-based software on the other hand guarantees you access to a digital platform that will be constantly upgraded by the service provider based on market trends. 

As a business owner, you do not have to focus on R&D for identifying trends, incorporating newer features, and expanding the scope of the platform. All of these would be done by the service provider and offered to you instantly when the new feature is rolled out by them to the market. Be it AI or ML, big data analytics based insight generation or implementing blockchain, IoT, etc. your business will enjoy access to all emerging technological capabilities without having to worry about integrating the same to your digital channels.

Cloud-based technology infrastructure and applications will reshape the business world in more ways than one. As a business owner, your aim should be to pick the best cloud platform to manage and grow sustainably. Here is where Infince can be the game-changer. Some of the world’s growing SMBs trust Infince to handle their online work collaboration seamlessly. With capabilities such as CRM, ERP, private email, virtual private servers, custom website builder, marketing automation, etc. all available in one place, Infince is your one-stop destination to transition fast into a cloud-first business. 

Get in touch with us to know how you can leverage this all-in-one collaboration platform to manage work from anywhere.

Why Small Businesses Need to Invest in SaaS Delivery Model

The widespread adoption of Software-as-a-Service or SaaS model of technology deployment is undoubtedly a key driver of digital disruption across industries. Studies show that the global SaaS market is expected to touch or exceed a staggering USD 623 billion by 2023. And the biggest beneficiary of SaaS across every industrial sector is small and medium businesses operating in these sectors.

While big players do have their own key advantages, it is the smaller players who can truly transform their business. With SaaS, they get access to powerful tools that can enable them to compete with the best in the business without worrying about costs. With SaaS, they only need to pay for the resources they use, can scale up or down depending on business needs and enjoy hassle-free technology deployment without dedicated monitoring staff. This allows them to offer the best of services to customers using the same digital solutions as used by leaders in their industry.

Still skeptical about making the SaaS switch? Here are 5 reasons to transition your small businesses digital infrastructure into a SaaS model:

Related Reading: Private Or Public Cloud: Where Should My Business Invest?

1.Save on Costs

As a small business, you need considerable investment in core business processes and resources like for example, inventory for a retail business. There isn’t too much scope for spending heavily on IT projects if your core business is not technology related. But you need the best of digital solutions to serve the savvy and demanding consumers of today. Here is where SaaS-based software can be your best friend.

SaaS solutions typically work on a subscription basis, where you pay for what you consume: be it storage, computing power or number of users. And most cloud software is available for ready deployment with easy customization to suit your unique needs. This enables small business players to use world-class software without worrying about hefty license fees and implementation costs.

2.Flexible Infrastructure

By infrastructure, we mean the technology back-end of SaaS solutions that can accommodate any fluctuations in usage patterns. For example, a retailer may see increased use of technology services during peak holiday seasons. This scenario may require extra storage space or computing power to process transactions faster and deliver constantly seamless customer experiences. If you were to have an IT infrastructure on-premises, then jacking it up to meet the extra demand would involve a Herculean effort. Not to mention, the cost overhead for extra capacity, which may find a use for only a few days or months every year.

In a SaaS model, small business owners need not worry about scaling their technology infrastructure in pace with the demand from consumers. SaaS providers offer easy scalability and managed services to ensure that your technology rises up to the occasion when it’s needed. This flexibility empowers small businesses to focus on improving their business processes while trusting their infrastructure to run on its own risk-free.

Related Reading: Why Should Your Business Invest in Cloud Native Digital Technology?

3.Access to Innovations

Today, every successful business, across any industry relies on powerful technology like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics and so on to serve customers better. As a small business, you may not have the financial muscle or technical skill to build and use such technology in your daily operations.

However, with SaaS solutions, the story is completely different. SaaS vendors continue to invest heavily on incorporating market innovations such as AI, machine learning, etc., to enable their solutions to deliver more value. When you subscribe to their solutions, your business stands to automatically benefit from using this technology from day one.

4.Zero Maintenance Effort and Cost

Unless your small business opts for a private cloud infrastructure hosted on your own servers, you are less likely to incur any costs of maintaining your SaaS solutions. There is no need for dedicated staff to monitor availability or conduct periodic maintenance of hardware. All these would be managed by the SaaS vendor themselves and you only have to pay for the subscription plan you opted. This can be extremely useful for small players as they can control IT costs significantly and channel their savings into their core business.

Usually, all SaaS vendors commit to near 100% availability for their services and for cases of technical downtime, they usually notify customers well in advance to be prepared for any disruptions. Not having to hire technology professionals to run these solutions enables you to recruit more talent having niche business skills to grow your business.

5.Faster Deployment

SaaS software usually goes live in a matter of minutes for small businesses that have no or minimal customization requirements. Once up, any incremental changes or new feature additions can be rolled out without causing any disruption to the customer’s business processes that rely on these solutions. Vendors can roll out these updates at any convenient time without having to disrupt the customer’s business operations and without having to involve stakeholders from the customer’s side for every deployment. As a business owner, you can sit back and relax while new features get added seamlessly to your digital solutions faster and with more robustness.

Related Reading: INFINCE – A One-Stop Technology Solution for Small Business

SaaS is the future of small business technology as evident from the high rate of adoption it has found globally. The large plethora of benefits that customers get to enjoy while subscribing to powerful SaaS solutions with significantly low investments on cost and effort is a key driver of this adoption trend.

All you need is a strategic technology partner to enable the best value from your SaaS investments by offering you a powerful solution and tailoring it to suit your unique business needs. This is where INFINCE can be the game changer in your journey. Get in touch with us to know how your small business can leverage the power of SaaS with INFINCE.