5 Technology Tools to Help Your Sales Process

The best sales processes start long before your first meeting with a potential client. How successful of a relationship you will have with customers depends on how prepared you are in your sales process. Andrew Thomas, founder of Skybell Video Doorbell, shares an article on INC of several technology tools that you can use to boost and strengthen your sales process. With the many available resources out there, technology is the most useful. It’s vital role in successful strategies is what separate good sales processes with mediocre ones, growing companies from dying ones. They are:

  1. Manage relationships with a CRM
  2. Save time with smarter email outreach
  3. Use online apps to build your community
  4. Stay up to date with Google Alerts
  5. Always be learning with audiobooks

In Thomas’ experience, by adding tools and using the available resources out there, you can have a successful sales process for your business.

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How Technology Could Impact The Workplace Over The Next Decade

As we are settling in to the new year, developments in technology isn’t slowing down a bit, especially in business. Khadim Batti shares an article on Forbes of the changes in the workplace this year and over the next decade.

Hyper-Automation – with first-gen automation, robotic machinery accomplished repetitive tasks formerly done by people. Hyper-automation will involve stacking multiple machine learning software packages on top of automation tools to for advanced types of work.

Accelerated Digital Transformation – Most organizations tackle digital transformation to increase operational efficiencies and cut costs so as to harness technology to improve business models, operational efficiency and the customer experience.

Digital Adoption Solutions – Digital adoption solutions, or DAS, aims to accelerate employee adoption by cutting through the complexity of a company’s enterprise systems and integrating real-time, context-sensitive, on-screen prompts into an application.

Elevated Employee Experience – The makeup of the workforce has changed significantly, which is prompting different approaches to employee training and retention. One such change is the growing population of remote workers. Employers are making efforts to align their training and retention strategies for these types of employees.

Learning In The Flow Of Work – Global industry analyst Josh Bersin identifies a new concept called “Learning in the Flow of Work,” which recognizes that for learning to really happen, it must fit around and align itself to working days and working lives. This technique treats learning in the workplace as a continuous process.

 

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Three Ways Wearables Boost Supply-Chain Efficiency

Wearables, smart electronic hands-free devices, have not only peaked interest for the everyday user, but has been a huge asset in other fields such as health and logistics. The latter, for example, shows the benefits of wearables being used in supply-chain processes and management. Kristen Herhold shares an article on supplychainbrain.com of the many ways wearable technology has aided in supply-chain efficiency and has since increased productivity within warehouses and all throughout organizations.

 

Minimize Manual Labor – Wearables streamline warehouse workflows by removing manual steps from day-to-day processes. Simple things such as barcode scanners are being quickly recorded real-time by wearable and mobile devices, quickening logistics processes. “Scanner-enabled wearables allow employees to automatically send reports to management that would otherwise have to be manually typed in,” says Herhold.

 

Provide Comprehensive Data – Wearables allow businesses to monitor their workers’ physical activity, location, and health. Similar to how professionals are using these devices in the healthcare field, these devices with biometric sensors report the health and wellness of employees, especially if most require physical labor at warehouses. Herhold notes that the data collected by warehouse wearables gives management the opportunity to better serve workers’ needs.

 

Offer Real-Time Feedback – Wearables are a smart device, so it usually means that any activity inputted and recorded is sent to another device or database where others in the network are given immediate access to data, in real time. Voice headsets, for example, connect to a phone on the user and increase the accuracy of warehouse work through real-time feedback.

 

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SSO Error Due to Expired WebSphere Cert

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Recently we ran into the dreaded “Unable to load” error message in Portal, and could not find any indication of why Portal couldn’t load.  The most we could see through a Fiddler trace is that the sso.js file was getting a 500 error.  There was nothing logged anywhere.  Not on the WebSphere node, application server, nothing in ios, security, event viewer.  Nothing!  We figured WebSphere had to be the culprit, because sso.js is wrapped up in an ear file in WAS_HOME, and everything on the Portal side was working until it tried to hit that script.  So, we started digging into WebSphere and figured out that one of the certs was expired on the Node.  For some reason, a custom wildcard cert had been used for the WebSphere install on the node only.  We opted to switch it to use the default self-signed cert, which was not expired, and was the solution that worked best for us.  Another option would, of course, be to upload a new wildcard cert and switch the old one to the new one.

To switch a cert in WebSphere, go to Security > SSL certificate and key management > Key stores and certificates.  Select the NodeDefaultKeyStore of the node you want to change, and under additional properties on the right, select “Personal certificates”.  Click your “old” cert and select “Replace”.  Select the “new” certificate that is replacing the old one.  Check the “Delete old Certificate after replacement” box.

Bounce WebSphere services, or better yet, reboot.  And you should be good to go!

 

 

 

Koch Industries Agrees to Acquire All of Infor

An affiliate of Koch Equity Development LLC, the investment and acquisition subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining equity stake in Infor held by Golden Gate Capital. Infor will become a standalone subsidary of Koch Industries at the close of the transaction and will continue to operate from its headquarter in New York City with the current management team. Koch has been an investor of Infor since 2017 and is considered a key enterprise partner. With this equity acquirement, Koch intends to quickly position Infor as one of the most well-capitalized companies in technology. Kevin Samuelson, CEO of Infor, says of the purchase, “Koch’s decision to acquire Infor is a strong endorsement of our product strategy and focus on creating innovative solutions for our customers. As a subsidiary of a $110 billion+ revenue company that re-invests 90% of earnings back into its businesses, we will be in the unique position to drive digital transformation in the markets we serve. We are rapidly expanding our industry-specific CloudSuites and offering customer experiences and outcomes that are well beyond what is standard in enterprise software.” Per the press release, “the transaction is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of 2020. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.”

 

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Know What’s in Your Array

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The indexOf() method returns the first index of where a user given element is found in an array or it returns -1. This method has 1 required parameter and 1 optional parameter. The required parameter is the lookup value and the optional one is start index. The lookup value is the element you are trying to find. The start index is where you want to start looking for the lookup value.

 

Below shows some examples of how the indexOf() method works.

 

 

 

Using technology to change health care

Technology has made a name for itself in the healthcare industry. Software innovation for example has made strides in the medical field with electronic health record systems helping physicians keep track of patient records more efficiently. Shreyas Tanna shares an article on Biopharmapress about how technology has impacted a healthcare organization, Mediclinic, and how they’re continuing to leverage new innovations to further their healthcare system into the digital age. For example, technology is being applied to improve the contact of patients with Mediclinic Middle East and provide them with more opportunities to engage with, simplify and speed up the procedure for scheduling a date, and to ensure prompt tracking of requests and queries. Additionally, Tanna adds that technology assists with actual patient treatment at Mediclinic in fields such as oncology where they use the newly developed TrueBeam linear accelerator for radiation therapy. Healthcare organizations like Mediclinic who utilize technological applications to improve patient lives are testaments of this digital age and will pave the way for more innovations in healthcare.

 

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Chrome 80 Browser SameSite Workaround (Supporting Article)

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With the Chrome 80 update, here is a simple workaround to disable SameSite cookies.

 

To get started open your Chrome Browser.

Type chrome://flags in the URL and press enter:

Search cookies and set SameSite by default cookies and Cookies without SameSite must be secure to disable, then relaunch the browser:

Confirm changes after relaunching and that it!

 

Watch the accompanying video below for a visual guide.

The Future of Collaboration Technology in 2020 and Beyond

While technology has made a dent in the way we live, it’s most certainly made a shift in the way we work. Guest blogger Dana Corey, SVP and GM, Avocor, shares a post on UC Today on how the traditional workplace has had substantial transformation in the past decade as a result of advancements in collaboration technology. We are living in a world today where remote, freelance, and contracted employees are becoming more prevalent, as well as living in a society where almost everyone is attached to some form of personal technology devices. This drives the need for collaboration technology in the workplace to operate the same way. Corey believes with the digital advancements continuing to flourish, the way we communicate will continue to evolve throughout 2020 and beyond. The shift towards freelance or remote work work, for example, allows employees to collaborate across the country and communicate in real time even after a meeting or work day has ended. Company cultures are restructuring due to the needs and behavior of this evolving workforce. Corey states, “Today’s collaboration technology has come a long way and we are now seeing offices equipped with large-format interactive touch displays with videoconferencing solutions. Just as offices are advancing, so are the actual collaboration technologies within them, which have become more accessible, conventional, easier to use, and resemble the personal technology devices we rely on every day.” Video team meetings encourage interactivity, positive decision-making, improved communication, and even reduce the amount of meetings necessary, which in turn reduces gaps in communication. Corey adds frictionless collaboration technology as a key contributor to company-wide success and studies show that efficient communication, or lack thereof, has a major impact on a company’s bottom line. “When provided the best technology tools for working together, team members can build upon one another’s strengths in order to enhance the value of the work they produce for the company. This is why teamwork and collaboration play a critical role in the success of any-sized business and in today’s modern workplace, the driving force in teamwork communication is frictionless collaboration technology.”

 

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Technology Commercials Wow During Super Bowl 2020

It’s no surprise that every year while we know there will be commercials for food and beer, clothing brands and theatrical trailer releases, technology and cars always take the cake for the most memorable super bowl commercials. This year is no different as these commercials ranged from the latest designs of the hottest cars and their innovative additions under the hood and in the dashboard, as well as tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon (Alexa) showcasing what’s in store for technology. With 5G, Virtual Assistants/Artificial Intelligence, adaptive learning and cyber security to name a few, the commercials we watched yesterday showed us a glimpse of what’s yet to come with technology in this digital age. Take a look at this year’s tech commercials on TechCrunch below. What tech are you most excited for?

 

Click here to view this year’s technology and car commercials on TechCrunch