Ensure Increased Sales and Reduced Asset Loss with Evaluation Systems

Compared to earlier times, today new products are launched almost every day. However, the feeling of excitement and the desire to own the product is far less today. This is because today’s customers have grown smart and practical. They are not ready to take anything at face value. They want to be amply sure about the product’s plus points before taking the plunge. And if it takes months they are ready to even wait that long. They are not easily convinced and therefore before buying any product, they would enquire about the product and if and only if they are thoroughly satisfied with the feedback then only they would buy the product. Realizing the new attitude of the customers, companies are devising newer ways to reach and convince them.


 

Of the different methods, the best way to convince customer of the effectiveness of a product is the ‘try before you buy’ programs. This is because statistics show that people would rather opt to try something that is free rather than buy a product without using it or fully understanding its benefits. However, this method has its fair share of shortcomings namely loss of demo equipment, monitoring problems, delayed returns management and more.


 

Hence, what product manufacturers need is an innovative, state-of-the-art Demo/Loaner program or evaluation system that delivers product’s benefits to the users hassle-free. Such a program would increase the visibility, accessibility, and utilization of the product. The following are some of the advantages of an evaluation system.


 
  • Advanced tracking solutions that result in lower loss of demo equipment of up to 80% lower than current rates

  • "Simulated" installation in Tech Center ensures that the DoA rate stays low

  • Real time reporting via the web reduces monitoring time and costs

  • Extensive aftermarket support - live call to customer in case of failure to return equipment, tests to ensure returned equipment is in working condition and delivery of equipment back into the inventory/demo pool

  • Managed calibration and update/upgrades on all

  • Dramatically improved asset utilization by leveraging the capabilities of a state-of-the-art multi-million dollar  software application

  • Leverages the advantage of product excellence, device demonstration, and customer intimacy with short-term yet effective loaner programs

 

 

Thus, evaluation systems are the sure shot means of ensuring customer satisfaction, increased sales and market infiltration and reduced asset loss.

 

 

Also read more about : supply chain solutions

Benefits of Supply Chain Consulting

Simply put, going by the modern day definition supply chain consulting is a management discipline that provides predictive insights and an impartial suggestion to business organizations about the improvement and function of supply chains. There are certain sections that are reviewed under this. They are:


  • Logistics Network Management and Optimization

  • Warehouse Management

  • Inventory Management

  • Freight Management

  • Sales and Operations Planning (also called S&OP)

  • Business Modeling

  • Implementation Project Management

 

 

If you are in a process to evaluate your enterprise’s supply chain, its strengths and weaknesses, aiming towards attaining probable solutions, then it is best to opt in for expertise and help from a supply chain management firm. Eminent solution providers with their experienced professionals are ready to work in cooperation with consumers and ensures reduction in price  by optimizing the efficiency of the supply chain. The solution providers also help in optimizing the the overall operational platform and offer solutions to the probable supply chain concerns. Sometimes supply chain service providers are also known as 4PL or fourth-party logistics providers.


 

How Supply Chain Consulting Works?


Supply chain consulting operates initially by having an objective view of the entire inventory management system. The solution provider offers services and suggestions in order to establish an optimal supply chain solution. Every enterprise has got its own exclusivity. Therefore, the solution provider works towards catering to the specific needs of the consumer. For this they undertake a partnering approach than a “cookie cutter” one in order to have a clear understanding of individual needs.


 

However, the greatest asset of any organization is its people and the apt way to have an understanding of it is figuring out how the people work in the organization. Eminent service providers of supply chain solution own their own team of consultation staff who provides quality assistance in a professional way. These services include the following:


 
  • Supply Base Qualification and Procurement

  • Supply Chain Fulfillment Solutions

  • Systems Integration, Configuration and Test

  • Forward Logistics and Distribution

  • Reverse Logistics and Returns Management 

 

 

Top service providers today provide supply chain consulting services to the companies and business houses that need it the most. However, it is crucial to join hands with a leading market player as it brings with it its own benefits. The most important benefit being able to have access to a pool of expertise from experienced professionals. However, prior to selecting a partner it is essential to analyze your requirements and the service providers market reputation along with its service portfolio.

 

Social Gaming Analytics to improve Social Game Monetization

The social games industry launched precisely half a decade ago is today a $2 billion industry with over hundreds of millions of players worldwide. Social gaming is so popular that a whopping 81 million people play each day while 49 million people play multiple times a day. People play social games for a variety of reasons such as social interaction, stress buster, mental stimulation, relaxation, competitive spirit, fun & excitement and so on.


 

The monopoly enjoyed by video games in the gaming industry started to decline with the popularity of social networks such as Facebook. Of the different social networking sites, Facebook enjoys the largest share of the market with 61 percent of users. Moreover, with social games firmly establishing itself as a legitimate revenue opportunity, video games started losing ground and it is expected to withdraw completely from the global gaming scene by 2014.


 

The greatest source of revenue for social gaming comes from advertisements. Since 2009, there has been 60% increase in advertisements. If statistics are to be believed, then social gamers spend around $42.70 billion on virtual items. As more players enter the social gaming scene, it is highly necessary to do social gaming analytics to understand player opinions, expectations, and perceptions.


 

According to Quantic Dream founder and Heavy Rain's creator David Cage, “This (games) industry will die if it doesn't try more to be innovative and to come up with new ideas and to talk a bit more.” In his opinion, game developers must offer deeper experiences and he is right because if every game has the same plot, players would start getting bored. Innovation is all about getting new ideas but sometimes it is a bit difficult to bring in new ideas. Understanding social gaming metrics is the only way to solve this problem. For that, social gaming and social commerce companies must regularly observe and analyze social activity (viral invites, gifting, wall posts etc.), understand what the players actually prefer, and then update their applications by adapting their games and content based on the preferences. This way, social gaming companies can improve social game monetization further.


 

With the help of industry leaders adept in providing social analytics tools, companies can make smarter decisions pertaining to social gaming very rapidly. The following are some of the advantages of seeking help from social media analytics solution providers.


 
  • Provides real-time social gaming analytics with almost no effort

  • Provides gaming-specific actionable insights that help to quickly increase engagement, broaden reach, improve retention, and increase revenues

  • Enables lean teams to quickly impact goals with little effort


Also read about : facebook analytics

Evaluate Online Brand Effectiveness With Social Media Tools

Today whenever you google up any eminent brand name’s you will find its presence in a social media platform like Facebook and Twitter within the first few searches. This is the relevance of social networking platforms today. Eminent brands like Vodafone, Dominos, Lavazza Café, Chanel, NASA, Apple, Unicef and many more are active in numerous social networking platforms so that they can have a better audience connect and can create greater awareness for their products and services. Hence, social networking has ceased to be a mere “chatting” forum that many had tagged it to be in the past and has become an essential tool for successful brand communication.


 

Every enterprise needs to work out its own social media networking strategy today depending on its core objective and expansion plans. Companies can interact online by the way of posting interesting news feeds, product news, conducting quizzes and competitions, audience polls, blog posts on  topics that resonates with the audience. As the audience responds to these online interactions with their viewpoints and opinions companies have access to a storehouse of information on which they can base their branding and marketing strategies. This storehouse of information is technically termed as social intelligence. However, apart from being present online merely it is also essential to make your online presence effective and estimate its effectiveness. The modern day social media analytics tools make it possible in an efficient and simplified manner.


 

With social media expanding at an increased pace markers are required to think out of the box about the next generation analytics needs. In today’s Web 2.0 world eminent solution providers offer social media analytics in the form of an enterprise hosted solution that is based on the customer’s unique business challenges. Some of the features of this solution are:


 
  • Offers quick results for businesses to keep a track of social media behavior trends in real-time and attain instant feedback on what will work for the product.

  • Offers trending views and drill-down capacities

  • Offers perceptive insights so that enterprises can arrive at smarter operating decisions across a vast amount of social data

  • Helps in revenue acquisition

 

 

Furthermore, advanced social media analytics tools to help companies to  have a clear idea about what keeps the online audience engaged and what kind of campaigns work and the ones that do not. This apart, it is also helpful for brand monitoring and audits to offer insightful data.

Also read about : facebook analytics

Social Media Analytics Is More Than Just Simple Metrics

In today’s age of social media, all businesses need to focus on increasing their effectiveness online. Social media analytics are important tools for any social media campaign or social media users as it helps to measure interactive marketing by integrating, analyzing and enabling organizations to act on intelligence gained by expanding their reach, increasing retention, and ultimately, driving more revenue. One of the main uses of social media analytics tools is for Social Media Brand for brand monitoring and audits to provide insightful information.


 

Today customers are bombarded with a vast array of products and services. Hence, expecting loyalty from customers is definitely something more than the organizations can actually ask for. As customers become more and more selective about the products, their loyalty becomes less and less. Hence, organizations or product manufacturers instead of lamenting about the lack of customer loyalty need to be smarter and start implementing technologies and methods for knowing more about customers’ behavior. Getting hold of timely data and analytics to derive accurate information and insights about customer preferences can help to prevent losing customers to competitors. Better customer intelligence helps organizations to better identify, attract, interact, and retain customers.


 

Today consumers are increasingly using social media to voice their disdain about enterprises and its products and services leading to the rapid growth of social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs. This necessitates the need of effective social media analytics tools for businesses to track social media behavior in real-time and get immediate feedback on what will work for the product. Besides that, these tools must provide advanced analytics that help organizations to reach faster, smarter operating decisions and create automated business processes. Advanced analytics refer to any information that is immediately available to businesses to understand, improve, and ultimately become more proficient to deal with the situation at hand. Advanced analytics help enterprises to


 
  • Analyze data in real-time from across social, mobile and web platforms to allow game developers and social commerce companies to improve continuously customer acquisition, engagement and monetization campaigns.

  • Modernize the ability to capture broad data, uncover meaningful insights, and close the loop with automated action – all in near real-time.

  • Track user behavior in real-time and get immediate feedback on what is working and what is not.

  • Use visualization interface that helps to truly understand business performance to make faster, smarter operating decisions.

 

 

Social media analytics is more than just simple metrics and yesterday’s measurements. It is a broad array of data obtained by mining the vast treasure trove of social media to understand which events, content and user segments drive the most revenue.

Also read about :  engagement metrics

Making The Best Of Ear Hearing Protection Devices

Technology always has two sides to it, one the progressive and the second its side effects. Something similar has been with the modern day civilization that has seen much progress and development owing to economic development, industrialization and globalization. The modern day perils are numerous. However, to focus on a pertinent one would be hearing loss prevention that has resulted from the heavy noise industrial backgrounds.

 

Heavy industries such as mining, aviation and metallurgy presents a high noise ambiance that affects an individual workers' auditory health by resulting in permanent hearing loss and other health problems such as brain hemorrhage, headache, nausea and other chronic ailments. More than treating these adverse health conditions it is essential to tap the root cause of the problem and resolve it. Therefore, it is essential that organization resort to ear hearing protection devices.

 

Advances hearing protection devices today are available in the form of electronic ear muffs and ear plugs with advanced features that helps to combat high noise backgrounds. These revolutionary devices have been designed with an inbuilt SENS technology, that suppresses the extra noise and enhances the over speech quality. This helps the workers to identify the background where they are located as well as communicate smoothly with other workers. Furthermore, these devices successfully eliminate Noise Induced Hearing Loss and its advanced technology efficiently helps in speech communication to be clearly audible beyond 85 dB (A). Other innovative features and their benefits are as follows:

 

 

  • Enables users to communicate face-to-face with the help of a cell phone and two way radio communication in high noise without the user having to remove the hearing protection.
  • Allows smooth communication in short as well as long distances with the help of a two way radio and a Bluetooth cell phone.
  • Advanced electronic ear plugs offer a 360 degree binaural situational awareness to make sure that users have full awareness of what is happening in and around them.
  • The earplugs and earmuffs are designed in a way for casual and rough usage.
  • The device can be worn around the neck or can be carried in the pocket similar to an MP3 player.

 

Finally, top notch solution providers of electronic earplugs, earmuffs and other hearing protection devices always review and test their products as per the industry standards so that they are able to provide the best solutions. Furthermore, these devices are comfortable to wear and the wearer can adjust its specification with the help of tactile buttons.

 

Know more on  :  noise induced hearing loss,  electronic hearing protection

 

Comprehensive Threat Management Solutions for Complete Protection

With technology advances, cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and insidious. An effective and up-to-date threat management solution that simplifies compliance with regulatory requirements is essential to continually monitor and expose new gaps in your information security infrastructure. Security is usually seen as a critical part of the IT infrastructure to ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability. Enterprises have been trying to constantly utilize advance security technologies to solve their security problems. With increasing threats clearly looming over their business, organizations need a simple and an integrated security solution.
 
As the threat becomes more complex, the concept of implementing multiple layers of defence becomes increasingly important. Threat Management, until recently was time-consuming, costly and gap-ridden, but an effective threat management solution gives you additional protection layers to strengthen your existing IT infrastructure against any malevolent attacks. IT security experts speak of the importance of having a multi-tiered network security plan in place for businesses-one with layers upon layers of security so that virtual immunity to cyber-crime is as close to certainty as possible. Most companies address the threats endangering their IT infrastructures with integrated or unified threat management solutions, instead of complex products that make administration daunting and expensive. Companies that are involved in securing IT infrastructure from threats embrace the principal of defence in depth.

Effective threat management is necessary for organizations to defend themselves against today's ever-present and pervasive cyber-threats. As threat management can be a challenge for many organizations, it is important to choose a threat management solution that is able to handle the demands of real-time applications. While there are point solutions to address security monitoring and IT-GRC issues separately, it is prudent to have a solution that enables end-to-end integration of advanced network monitoring and governance, risk and compliance and a unified and integrated solution to continuously monitor and assess your security posture and the level of compliance as required by federal laws.


Investing in a solution helps organizations solve multiple data-centric information security challenges, which includes advanced persistent threat detection, data leakage, insider threats, malware analysis, continuous controls verification, and network e-discovery of assets. The solution you choose must be holistic for advanced information security and Compliance providing easy monitoring and end-to-end automation of all enterprise security, compliance, audit, and IT risk management needs.

Also read on - vendor management, HIPAA and HITECH

Efficient Wealth Management Through Tax Planning Services

Payment of taxes is one of the aspects of wealth building. Irrespective of being an individual, a corporate sector or a small and medium sized business  establishment, all are bound to pay their taxes as per the laws prevalent in the country. However, with globalization paving way for business  operations to go beyond the geographical boundaries, both individuals and corporate houses use fraudulent routes and tend to evade  tax payment in certain countries.


Governments on the other hand, to ensure that corporate entities and individuals with a widespread business across international borders, comply with the government tax regulations, tends to extract information of the Foreign Bank Account. The details so availed from FBAR helps these officials to trace the  undisclosed offshore accounts. Even as tax evasion  is an offense, tax planning works out beneficial for the financial success of every business.


Tax planning helps both individuals and corporates to determine ways and means  for reducing and eliminating tax liabilities on them. Successful businessman, consider good tax advice as a valuable commodity and considers this as an ongoing process of their business operations. Nevertheless,  the small and medium enterprises ignores the importance of planning their taxes. Tax planning is a process  that provides organizations and individuals various options of conducting business and personal transactions and in order to reduce or even eliminate tax liability.


Effective tax planning provides  organizations with efficient tax saving strategies that  facilitates to  go  beyond tax compliance and  after tax-income levels.  Tax planning services offered by tax consultants  and finance  managers will  help the corporate sectors and business enterprises to plan their finances,  calculate taxes, file their business tax returns while ensuring financial growth for the organization.  However, as tax laws remain the same irrespective of the size of the organizations, strategic tax planning helps organization with manageable tax bills, whereas advance tax planning services will help organizations understand the tax regulations, legal technicalities and interpretations and facilitate in using these for  organizational benefit.     


In case of the domestic corporates with individuals, estates or trust as their shareholders,  the burden of loss is shared by the shareholders too. These corporations that pay their taxes through their shareholders are referred to as S-corporation. However, tax planning services for the S-corporations unlike the others, ensures that these corporations are taxed only once at the shareholder level alone. Effective tax planning services is thus the cornerstone of wealth management, with attorneys and tax professionals chipping in to help their clientele  in managing the same.


Read Also On: Entity Formation

Promoting a Culture of Innovation for a Successful Enterprise

Innovation is about what’s new and what’s next. It’s about that exciting leap forward into uncharted territory. Innovation, be it small or incremental, large or disruptive, is all about change. For most of us the idea of “innovation” is laced with positive and desirable assumptions about something that will be cooler, better than whatever we have.


 

The Kelloggs Company, for example, was formed when Kellogg attempted to salvage some left over boiled wheat that went stale, by rolling it into dough.  Kellogg (aided by his brother Will) found that it tore into pieces and refused to hold a shape. Undaunted, they toasted the flakes and were pleasantly surprised by the result. This ready-to-eat cereal innovation changed the way people eat breakfast worldwide. W.K. Kellogg’s product innovation and drive for market expansion influenced the Kellogg Company and the food industry around the world today.


 

Kellogg has established itself as an industry leader in the cereal category with health-conscious, innovative breakfast choices like Special K, All Bran and 19 cereal choices.


 

In most cases, innovation is often mistaken for invention. When people talk about innovation they often think about lab technicians in white coats with huge R&D budgets. On a business level though, innovation is assumed as, companies developing brand new, cutting edge product lines or going through alterations to their business models. Large businesses are under continual pressure to be more innovative to sustain the market. Innovation usually generates a competitive advantage, ensures companies to remain at the cutting edge of product design and customer service.


 

Innovation can start from things as simple as reviewing business operations and processes, to reviewing market segments, sharpening focus on target customers and redefining strategies used in different markets. For a successful enterprise and for innovation to be enduring, top corporate executives must continually encourage, challenge and recognize employees who innovate.  Employees should be allowed time in their schedules to learn about innovation and practice it on an ongoing basis. Innovation is not limited to the invention of new products. It is about consciously and continuously doing things in a better manner so that you are always ahead of the ever-accelerating competition. If the employees are engaged in the  thought process to generate ideas, it not only increases the likelihood that individual employees will generate new ideas, it also suggests that idea generation among engaged employees can be amplified when it occurs in a team setting. Know more on Idea Management Software


 

For many large businesses, real innovation is more likely to be about making day-to-day improvements in how the business operates in terms of people and process. And this in itself helps promote a culture of greater innovation within the business rather than enforcing innovation through paradigm shifts in product and service.


 

With an aim to foster a culture of innovation and knowledge, to help organizations enhance their success, brand value and loyalty, idea management and innovation has acquired a greater significance over the years.


Know more on: idea management programs & innovative management solutions

Services Offered By Reverse Logistics Solutions

According to most people, reverse logistics is the procedure of shifting goods mainly from their final destination with an objective to capture value or appropriate disposal. However, there still has been a quest amidst management professional for a proper definition of reverse logistics. Keeping this in mind The Council of Logistics Management defines reverse logistics as the “process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost effective flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements”
 

Multiple Aspects of Reverse Logistics


Refurbishing and re-manufacturing initiatives also form a part of the reverse logistics process. Simply put, the process is much more than reusing the recycling packaging materials and containers. Simultaneously, redesigning packaging to utilize less material or minimizing the pollution and energy for transportation too are essential activities. However, they could be better positioned in the category of “green” logistics. If there are no materials or products are being sent backwards, the activity in all probability is not logistics.

 

Reverse logistics also comprise processing returned merchandise owing to seasonal inventory, damage, salvage, restock, recalls and excessive inventory. It further includes hazardous material programs, recycling programs, asset recovery and obsolete equipment disposition.


Interest in Reverse Logistics


In the recent times the awareness of the science and art of logistics has been increasing. In addition to that, a great interest in reverse logistics has been piqued. Numerous organization that earlier did not focus much attention to the understanding and  management of reverse logistics, have started to pay close attention to it. These enterprises are standardizing return operations with advanced operators. Some companies are also becoming ISO certified on their return procedures. Third parties dealing in returns have witnessed a great rise in the demand for their services. Furthermore, eminent solution providers specializing in supply chain management have come up with reverse logistics programs that provides the following services:


  • Returns Management   Services (RMA)  Support

  • Warranty Returns

  • Lease Returns

  • Refurbishment

  • Test and Debug

  • Repackaging

  • Fulfillment

  • Disposal (Remarketing and recycling)

  • Web Based Inquiry and Reporting


These companies with their integrated reverse logistics management system efficiently refurbishes a huge range of products within a lesser time and sets them back into the field after testing and reviewing the standards. All this can be achieved within 24 hours or even less than that helps in providing the highest environmental and economic return in the industry.