Author: admin

Capitol Technology University: Empowering Students to Build Great Careers

In 1927, Navy veteran Eugene H. Rietzke founded Capitol Technology University in Washington, D.C., as the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute. Initially, the institute served to educate radio and electronics technicians, and later with growing popularity, it started offering other areas of study related to engineering and technology. As the school evolved, it underwent several name and location changes before moving to Laurel, MD. Campus in 1980 and settling on the current name Capitol Technology University in 2014. Thanks to its strong leadership, Capitol Tech has grown into an MHEC-accredited, bustling academic community offering graduate and undergraduate degrees.

Led by its President, Dr. Bradford L. Sims, Capitol Technology University is a private, independent university offering 26 Bachelor’s, 21 Master’s, and 32 Doctoral degree options in a variety of STEM-based subject areas. Every program at the university focuses on helping students develop practical and modern skills that will make them valuable assets for their employers. Its most popular study program is its acclaimed Cyber and Information Security major, which has received several honors, including the 2020 S.C. Media Award for Best Cybersecurity Higher Education Program. It also has expertly designed Construction Management & Critical Infrastructure Programs, which help students prepare for lucrative careers in the industry. The career-focused university provides two unique promises for eligible students–the Chargers Assistance Program (CAP), which promises to assist students with paying off loans if their post-graduation income is under $50,000, and the Capitol Commitment, which offers to fund up to 36 additional academic credits for students who do not find employment within 90 days of graduation.

A Technology-Obsessed Leader

Dr. Bradford L. Sims joined Capitol Technology University in 2017 as its eighth president. An educator, administrator, and construction project manager, Dr. Sims has a massive experience in academia and in numerous career industries.

Dr. Sims was introduced to computer programming at a very young age when he received a Commodore 64 as a birthday gift. Soon after completing his Bachelor’s degree in Building Construction Management from Purdue University, he spent significant time in project management for industrial construction companies. His technical knowledge provided him with the opportunity to not only oversee projects but to have involvement in managing the computer systems at each company he served. Later, he returned to the University of Florida to pursue his Master of Science in Building Construction and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Purdue. These studies eventually led Dr. Sims to his first position in the higher education industry as an assistant professor at the University of Florida. Later, he worked in various positions in the higher education industry before joining Capitol.

Setting High Standards

Capitol Technology University sets itself apart by helping students find their careers immediately after graduation. The university has partnerships with major government agencies like the NSA, allowing its students to build career connections quickly. It hires faculty members who not only have brilliant minds and a passion for teaching, but have worked in the industry and can show students what their future employers could look for. Additionally, Capitol’s programs are developed on the base of the current STEM career industry, and each subject area was designed to meet the specific demands of the job market.

Tackling the Pandemic

Although Covid-19 made it very difficult for many colleges and universities to operate in person, leading to a decline in enrollment, Capitol was already well-positioned to tackle the pandemic due to its existing robust online learning infrastructure.

“While we missed the lively on-campus presence of our undergraduate students during 2020, we successfully continued operations virtually and maintained the same level of quality and excellence that our community expects.”- Dr. Sims said.

Helping Students Build Great Careers

Since its foundation in 1927, Capitol’s primary mission has been to provide its students with great careers. What has changed is the university’s commitment to offering its education at advanced degree levels and the delivery methods of several of its degrees. During the late 1990s, Capitol Tech was one of the leaders in converting its Master’s degrees to online delivery, which helped it to reach a much wider audience of full-time working students. Later it added an online doctoral degree to serve working students who wanted to continue their education. Initially, the online experience was a synchronous 16-week semester. However, to meet the current student needs, synchronous delivery has migrated to asynchronous delivery with the addition of 8-week courses.

Preparing for the Future

As a career-focused university, Capitol will continue to look at the future needs of the industries it serves and add new degree programs and certifications to fill that market demand. Capitol Tech works closely and has many partnerships with associations, companies, government agencies, and government subcontractors and uses many full-time industry employees to instruct in classes both on campus and online, ensuring that the university stays active in current and future industry needs across the United States and internationally.

Top 10 Cyber Security Jobs for 2023

Cybersecurity experts had gained relevance for many days. As our global business and government agencies mostly work on internet connectivity that’s why organizations get more suffered from threats of hacking and cyber-attacks. Thus, enterprises and business organizations currently reinforce their security system by investing more in cyber security. 

The increasing number of cyber-attacks like malware, ransomware, hacking, data breaches, crypto mining, and tunneling creates a high risk for all industries in the world. So, if we look at the career path of cyber security experts and professionals, it is evolving and inspiring with great opportunities. 

Holding a bag of few years of experience with advanced course certification, and an efficient skill set can offer you the best and high-salary job in the cyber security field. 

Let’s explore job opportunities and responsibilities in cyber security. 

  • Cyber security engineer

Cybersecurity engineers are experts in the cybersecurity field. They design and create secured networks for systems to strengthen the security of an enterprise or organization. This major role of cyber security engineers makes them an integral part of the system. These professionals have in-depth and accurate knowledge of security systems which creates a high demand for them in tech companies. The average salary of these professionals is nearly 1,64,861 per year. 

  • Cloud security expert

Most companies and enterprises adopt cloud security systems to secure or store sensitive data. Therefore, there is a demand for these experts in different countries to maintain systems’ infrastructure and cloud security controls. To get expertise and be eligible for this job role, you require a proper certification in cyber and cloud security course with minimum 2-5 years of experience. The annual income of these experts is $86,264.

  • CISO (Chief Information Security Officer)

The chief information security officer is a senior executive role in the field of cyber security. These senior experts develop and implement security programs in the systems to avoid threats and attacks. In addition, they have to play an important role in handling data breaches and other security incidents. A CISO is typically a skilled expert with deep knowledge of information technology and security. To acquire this position, one must have extensive professional experience in the field and also supportive certification. The average annual income of CISO is $197,362

  • Malware analyst

A malware analyst is responsible for detecting viruses, bots, worms, rootkits, and trojan types of cyber-attacks. All these cyber-attacks disturb the system and can transfer to another system. To become a malware analyst, you must first take a computer science degree and a cyber-security certification course. Having at least two years of experience is necessary to get the desired salary and a position in the company. The annual income of these professionals in cyber security is $91,886.

  • Forensic analyst

Forensic analysts play a desirable role in criminal branches to investigate crimes virtually. They examine all digital data, firewalls, and databases to determine the threat and the malicious activity of the cyber attacker. These professionals mainly extract data from devices while investigating to find the culprit and present evidence to the court. You require proper certification like CCE and CFCE from authorized institutes to acquire this position in the forensic department. The average income of a forensic analyst is $80,990 per year. 

  • SOC analyst

SOC is a security operation center generally used in cyber security. This branch handles the most relevant cybersecurity operations and tasks. The main aim of this system is to find cyber threats by creating several technological tools. SOC analyst is one of the responsible positions in SOC to deal with cyber-attacks and threats. These experts monitor every malicious activity of cyber attackers and inform the organization’s senior members to reduce the security risk. To become a SOC analyst, you must have a computer science degree and certification in a cyber-security course from a reputed institution. 

  • Ethical hackers

Certified ethical hackers are cyber security professionals who perform the relevant security functions for a company’s computer system. These experts do advanced security work for companies and help them to identify and diminish cyber threats and breaches. Identifying high-level security areas and breaches, conducting penetration tests, and maintaining the company’s network structure are some major job responsibilities of ethical hackers. They require bachelor’s degrees in computer science and CEH certification. Ethical hackers can earn a good income of up to $67,209.

  • Incident manager

An incident manager handles the situation or incident related to cyber-attacks in the respective companies. Incident managers help employees, staff, and customers resolve their issues and problems. They can take any necessary step to normalize the working operation after any incident. To become an incident manager, you must have strong communication and decision-making abilities. However, the average income of an incident manager is $65,000.

  • Application security expert

These experts handle the development, implementation, and maintenance of the security system of applications. App security experts design security policies and methods to avoid internal and external cyber threats. You should have certified courses in cyber security and cyber-attacks with an understanding of network security. The salary of these experts wholly depends upon an individual’s experience. Salary ranges between $68,241 to $93,708. 

  • Cyber security consultant

Cyber security consultants generally resolve the cyber security issues of businesses and organizations. To start your professional consultancy service, you must initially have authorized certification to show employers and business leaders. Your experience in the consultancy field determines the engagement of your clients and customers. Good communication and appropriate service can give you limitless opportunities in this field.

Top 10 Businesses to Start with 100K

According to studies, 62% of adults are interested in entrepreneurship as a career option. In the United States, 90% of American Billionaires are self-made. Most people start their own business to be their own boss in the office. People turn towards building mostly small businesses which give them enough profit and freedom of work. There are about 30.7 million small business owners in the U.S alone. 

The Internet gives freedom to entrepreneurs to reach up to their peers and learn from their feedback. There is an initial requisition for enough capital to start a business or startup. You can start a good business in a minimum amount because ‘whoever starts small can finish big’. Several offline and online businesses can give you good output in small investments. 

So, if you have found your eureka moment in your life and you wish to start your own business then here are 10 top and profitable business ideas with 100k capital. 

  • Auto repair

An automobile repair business will thrive as long as there are motorcycles and cars. Every car and bike requires maintenance and repair. So you can start your automobile equipment shop or simply a service garage with minimum cost. If you are from an engineering or IT background, you can easily achieve high progress in this business. Before starting a business, it is vital to consider an ideal location, competitors, skilled workers, and your untiring efforts. Your Consistency and the trust of customers lend your business to great heights. 

  • Electronics

New business opportunities and innovations are constantly emerging due to rapid advancements in electronic technology. Smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices are becoming an integral part of people’s everyday lives, creating a huge demand for them in the market. You can initially buy the franchise of the brand with maintenance and servicing of products. Focus on the market demand and advanced, in-demand appliances, which attract more customers to your business. 

  • Investment Agency

If you have deep knowledge and experience in investing, you can start your own agency and provide the service of managing clients’ money by generating profits for them through the share market. One thing to consider in this business is that your predictions and knowledge of the market should be good. It requires trust to hand over money to someone else’s hand. People only believe when they see your past successful results. So start your investing consultancy with your relatives and friends and then develop new success stories and considerable profits for them. This helps you to gain the trust of new customers in the market. 

  • SEO firm

Many online businesses and marketing organizations have their own website and utilize online platforms for launching their products and services. In recent years, SEO marketing strategy has become a great opportunity for businesses. It is sometimes difficult for businesses to find skilled SEO experts. Collaborating with business clients and giving them a perfect SEO strategy will help your firm to grow with minimum investments. 

  1. Web designing business

If you have experience and relevant knowledge of web designing, you can start a web designing service business for clients. This business also requires less capital initially. Nowadays, every small or big business needs the best digital presence to grow its customers. By grabbing this valuable opportunity, you can start your web designing business with paid online tools, a little place for your shop, and your excellent skill set and creativity. 

  1. Digital Marketing

Before starting any startup or agency, educate yourself with profound knowledge of that service. Digital marketing is one of those fields which requires a thorough study of the market. There are too many competitors in the market, so you must select a proper niche to start your digital marketing agency. Focus on the audience and clients, share your work and experience with them and do the client’s work as honestly as possible. This will assist you in raising your market value. 

  1. Job Consultancy

There is a growing need for job consultancies in the market. There are many such startups in the market, but they do not offer enough efficient services, including career guidance, CV designing, connecting with HRs, and interview preparation tips. Therefore, you will face less competition. If you start consultancy with lucrative services for job seekers by creating proper connections with recruiters, then opportunities and possibilities of success are limitless. 

  • Cafe 

Creative cooking and hardcore foodie nature indicate that you can start a successful food business. Initially, less investment and more creativity will assist you in running your Cafe service in your city. You have only to find a perfect location to build your cafe corner and essential raw materials for the deliveries. I would suggest that use lots of creativity while decorating your cafe and menu card and develop a happy and blissful atmosphere to welcome your customers. Design a menu card with particular dishes, reducing customers’ confusion and increasing their interest in buying your items in less time. 

  1. Nursery business

There are too many emerging plant parents in the world. Most youngsters and adults share a bond with plants, and so they choose to decorate their balconies and house with several plants. If you are interested enough in nurturing plants and have a botanical background, you can start a nursery with minimum investment. As the nursery business comes under the agricultural sector, you have to take a license to start it. Besides this, you need a proper land and atmosphere to grow your plant products efficiently. Rising interest in plant parenthood among the millennials increases the opportunities in the nursery business. 

  1.  Start Online Store

In today’s online shopping era, you have endless opportunities to sell your desired products by opening your online store. Many large e-commerce companies allow small businesses to sell their products online. There are several options like jewelry making, fashion and smartphone accessories, and health and food products, which you can sell to target customers using online stores with low investment and good profits

Judy Deuchar: Changing the Shopping Experience

Led by Judy Deuchar, TVSN is an experiential retailer with over 27 years in Australia and New Zealand as a broadcast, cable television, and satellite television network specializing in home shopping. The TVSN shopping network showcases a huge variety of products and prestigious brands, international trends in fashion, health, beauty, kitchen, electronics, homeware, and jewelry across several platforms including television, internet, printed catalog, mobile, and online applications. TVSN’s products are accessible to consumers from the comfort of their homes, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

The show takes viewers through an exhilarating ride of showcasing products and their features, benefits, brand stories, and journey to TVSN, with international guest presenters, customer testimonials, how-to’s, demonstrations, the odd bloopers, and a lot of fun, laughter, and sometimes tears.

Since its inception in 1996, TVSN has grown from strength to strength and has enviable expertise in video commerce within the fast-changing digital world. Customers can also access the platform using TV, tablets, and handheld devices, securing TVSN’s future in the digital age.

TVSN’s buyers often travel the world searching for new, unique, and exclusive quality products, emerging trends, and brands that TVSN knows its customers will love. All TVSN products undergo strict testing with the company’s Quality Assurance Team for compliance, safety, strength, and reliability before they go on sale.

The Experienced Leader

TVSN’s General Manager, Judy Deuchar is an experienced leader with strategic expertise in transformational business management, from merchandising, marketing, digital programming, logistics, and global retail. She is experienced in supply chain management, implementing multi-channel digital commerce optimization for brands and retailers. Judy’s proven strength lies in strategically driving merchandise and consumer technology to build brands and businesses for long-term growth.

Judy holds a Bachelor of Social Science in Clinical Psychology and a Post Graduate degree in Conflict Management and Marketing from the University of Cape Town and the University of Cape Town Business School, respectively. She is also a Global Winner of the CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women) Building Leaders Achiever Award 2009.

“Throwing myself into blue sky ideas is what motivates me to get up in the morning and continue to lead this amazing team.”

Her career started with the Foschini Group as a Diamond Buyer during her Graduate Program. She soon moved on to QVC, holding several buying roles, before being promoted to Senior Vice President of Merchandise, Planning, and Operations.

Judy also owned a Brand Consultancy Business, where she led a team of 10 and looked after Elle as their global Managing Director for jewelry and accessories. She was instrumental in establishing several Elle stores across the Asia-Pacific, working with several high-profile clients like Lulu Guinness.

Measuring the Success

Judy measures her success by her ability and resilience to rise when times are tough. She always prefers to lead by example in order to promote team effectiveness and collaboration. She feels setting the right goals ensures success for a business and motivates individual contributors to drive performance and ensure growth and business sustainability.

Judy feels taking smart risks in her day-to-day activities to drive TVSN’s business forward is one of the biggest challenges. Also, things like enhancing effectiveness, inspiring others, developing employees, leading a team, guiding change, and managing internal and external stakeholders come with their own set of challenges.

Implementing New Ideas

As an experiential retailer, TVSN is fully committed to providing a seamless customer experience consistently and ethically. An experience that excites and surprises customers with retail experiences available to them anytime, anywhere.

As TVSN’s General Manager, Judy plans to start multi-channel streaming, which will maximize the organization’s video commerce asset, helping it to take on new products streamed across multiple channels to suit the individual customer, including new exciting website channels that include video playlist apps as well as syndicated social media channels.

“We aspire to ensure that new customers are excited about what they have discovered and shop with TVSN. Existing customers continue to return because they love the experience and want more and more. We promise to deliver a unique, entertaining, and engaging shopping experience. We will excite, entertain and inform our customers by showcasing the best products, trends, and brands from around the world. We will never stop looking for ways to support, service, and delight our customers.”– says Judy.

Top 10 Advantages of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a software infrastructure that delivers several services, including data storage, database security, networking, software updates, and server functioning over the internet. Rather than using a local server for data storage, cloud computing is the easiest option to manage all your documents and files properly. In simple terms, cloud computing helps users to access all important applications through the internet. Checking Facebook status and managing bank accounts can also be accessible due to cloud computing services. We can say that cloud computing is becoming common for all businesses and organizations. 

There are many well-known cloud computing provider nowadays which offers secured cloud services.  It is a convenient platform for managing business files and databases conveniently. It helps in reducing operational issues and enhances an organization’s performance and cash flow. According to estimates, about 90% of businesses in the UK are using at least one cloud computing service. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of firms and corporations are shifting towards it. About 94% of leaders pretend that they saw much improvement after manipulating cloud computing services for their business, despite the fact that many companies today are unaware of the advantages of cloud computing.

In this, we will break down the top ten advantages of cloud computing services for all organizations to intensify their management performance.  

  • Accessibility 

Most businesses have branches in different states or countries. Accessible utilization of cloud services allows business leaders and their employees to manage their documents and workloads easily from anywhere. This accessibility impacts the working of employers, workers, and clients and also allows them easy access to their information. It also allows real-time collaboration with your clients and customers to avoid the creation of duplicate files repeatedly. 

  • Cost Effective

Cloud computing has the ability to get rid of all hardware and software issues. In cloud services, you no longer require cables or backup generators, which help you in reducing all your firm’s operational costs. One of the major advantages of cloud services is that they require less capital expenditure. You have to pay for your subscription plan considering your business model and data storage. 

  • Collaboration of team

Cloud computing allows you and your team to work efficiently regardless of location in the world. As a supervisor or manager, you can work together with your clients, customers, and work staff conveniently from anywhere. It enhances the working communication of diverse groups by authorizing them to share their information virtually with the help of storage files. Many cloud services allow users to organize and edit data offline and online. Such capability helps your business to refine your customer service, which reduces marketing time.

  • Reduce carbon footprint

Cloud computing is inherently energy-efficient technology. It requires less physical server setup and hardware and software cables. This allows companies to use minimum resources to manage their data systems. In addition, it enables companies to use fewer printouts for accessing files due to the increased ability of software to share files and databases virtually. Using these cloud services, companies do minimum or zero waste in nature, which tends to save energy. 

  • Reliability and security

Cloud computational services offer great security practices for maintaining the privacy of your data. Organizations can fully rely on cloud services to secure their data and sensitive information. As your data is secured in the cloud, even if something wrong happens with your device, you can easily get access to all your confidential data. You can also erase your data to save it from the wrong people. Even if something goes wrong with your device, you can still easily access all of your confidential data because it is encrypted on the cloud. You can also delete your data to protect it from unauthorized users.

  • Control on documents

Cloud computing provides centralized data security to businesses. So you don’t require to maintain all your old backups as all data backups are saved at the data center of the cloud. Therefore, you ultimately end up with all the mess happening while controlling the number of documents at a time. Workers need not share their files with email attachments after using cloud services. Thus this service of central file storage and easy control tends to move all businesses toward cloud computing. 

  • Automatic Software Updates

In cloud computing, service suppliers update your software to work automatically. This feature reduces the time required for the maintenance of software services. Computing suppliers provide server maintenance, including security updates which free their customers to do other important tasks. Automated software updates help users to enhance their data management. 

  • Offer Business Insights 

Cloud-based software collects all data as soon as it is introduced in the system. After getting access, it makes certain predictions on present or old data, which helps businesses to boost their sales and analyze their production and revenue graph accordingly. Analyzing data enables organizations to understand customer behavior. Thus it predicts the right insights which help companies to improve their decision-making for future progress. 

  • Multi-device functioning 

You can take advantage of working with cloud computing on any device as long as you have an internet connection. So the cloud is a multi-device functioning storage system that can easily view all your stored files on mobile apps without any limitations. It gives accessibility to edit and share files on any device like a laptop, tabs, or smartphone. This function lets the user control his data from anywhere with any device. 

  •  Easy Implementation

Going with cloud systems is still considered a complicated process. Installing a cloud is significantly simpler than installing a local server. It is known for its easy administration and less maintenance by its existing users. In case your office migration happens, then cloud service suppliers help you to move your setup to a new place seamlessly

Elizabeth Cowper: Transforming Workplaces for Working Women

Meet Elizabeth Cowper, the Founder, and CEO of Ludo, which is on a mission to engage female talent in the workforce. Ludo is about tech for inclusion, working to close the gender pay gap, educating, informing, and supporting HR. It is a B2B SaaS product that provides content and resource to all employees from its expert partners. Alongside this, the company also provides needed tools for HR to help drive a culture of inclusion and education for line managers to engage talent.

Under Elizabeth’s leadership, Ludo launched its first module to transform the maternity journey in 2021, with its next module, Ludo Menopause, scheduled to launch in October 2022. It also has Ludo Health, Ludo Fertility, and Ludo Parents in its product pipeline for 2023.

Ludo helps working new parents connect via the company, geography, or industry sector. Based on the expecting parents’ preference, Ludo sends alerts to the line manager and HR to keep in touch when the employee is out on maternity leave. The organization also has learning hub videos to support HR in guiding line managers to help parents as they grow their families.

The Farsighted Leader

As a working parent, Elizabeth understands the challenges parents face juggling the demands of a busy job and children. Also, she realized that if we continue at the same rate, closing the gender pay gap will take over 136 years. McKinsey once said, “Intervention is necessary to bridge the gender gap.” and Ludo is the intervention.

Elizabeth says, “Women are still underrepresented in the workplace, and we must hurry history to shift the dial. We help companies do exactly that.”

Global productivity losses related to menopause topped $150bn last year. And women typically drop out of the workforce when they are most likely to step into senior roles due to the age range where women are impacted by perimenopause and menopause.

After leaving University, Ludo’s founder Elizabeth initiated her career in recruitment, then onto HR. She completed her CIPD training in the UK and trained as a Master Coach, Strengths Finder Coach, and NLP Master Practitioner, which has supported her in developing individuals, and great teams to maximize collective success.

Elizabeth has had an illustrious career of nearly three decades in HR, working for companies like LVMH, Planet Organic, Network Rail, Harvey Nichols and Tapestry. She was awarded HR Most Influential 5 years in a row and has been described as a Culture Adjuster. Being a mother of three, Elizabeth completely understands the challenges of a working mother. Also, due to her role as an HR leader, she has witnessed some incredible women drop out of the workforce during critical life stages, including maternity leaves and menopause. So, she always wanted to change how people support women in the workplace, drive towards gender parity and close the gender pay gap.

Tackling the Gender Pay Gap

According to the latest number, globally, women earn 82 cents to every $1 for men, which is not good enough. This also has a knock-on effect on women’s wealth all the way to the value of their pensions.

Menopause is when most women struggle to stay in the workforce, leaving at a significant time in their careers. So, Ludo needs to work to support and retain female talent to maintain board diversity.

Ludo helps employees going through maternity and menopause by providing the needed help, support, and guidance. The organization helps attract and retain female talents and educates on the importance of gender parity.

The Pandemic

Elizabeth started her entrepreneurial journey in April 2020. She stepped out of corporate life into a global lockdown, which was nerve-wracking. She was also solo parenting three kids at home while running focus groups online and putting together the vision and plan for the tech. While looking back, Elizabeth realizes it was all possible due to the available technology. However, the lack of human contact made it harder to build Ludo’s team.

As the founder of Ludo, Elizabeth believes the pandemic has terribly affected working mothers, and it single-handedly pushed back women’s development in the workplace by more than ten years.

Getting Ready for the Future

Elizabeth says, “We are launching Ludo Health, Ludo Fertility, and Ludo Parents in 2023. We have plans for an HR Mastermind group too, and we run Ludo Red Tent events. A red tent is a women’s circle to allow women to have a voice and share in a safe environment.”

Ludo is working to create a future workplace where employees can tune into their inner compass and be their authentic selves. The organization can achieve this by creating a safe, inclusive culture, raising self-awareness, guiding and supporting employees through their life journeys. Presently Ludo is raising investment, and it is the firm’s second investment round that will help it expand the business globally, grow the team, and develop the tech with several new features.

Top 7 Essentials Which Make a Company Great Positive Workplace

The work environment is an essential thing for organizational productivity. Cultivation of a healthy environment fabricates positive results that drive a company’s success. A healthy and positive workplace boosts employees’ working abilities, which affirms the development of an individual and company. Every employee needs a happy workplace to inspire them to apply their skills in a novel way. 

Companies are going through a ” Great Resignation ” in which employees are quitting their positions in pursuit of a positive work environment that offers them better opportunities. This is the one reason among all others, why companies should endeavor to create a positive workplace for employees’ satisfaction. A positive workplace culture may inspire employees to produce high-quality work consistently. Employers must learn, what creates a happy work environment and collaborative culture and helps you improve productivity and work efficiency. 

In this article, let’s look for seven essential attributes that will make your organization or company a great place to work. 

  • Company Culture 

Developing a positive company culture is one of the essential components of establishing a stable and successful business. A positive workplace culture can motivate employees and help your business retain its finest staff. Additionally, contented employees are more likely to stick around. Employers who implement an employee-centric culture are more likely to lower their attrition rates. 

The most crucial work after starting a business is maintaining an ideal work culture in the workplace. But during the ups and downs of the company, it can be hard to maintain it. As a leader or employers, if companies proactively consider the well-being of employees and work staff, their business will achieve new heights of growth and innovation. 

Here are a few things that organizations can use to build an effective company culture.  

  • Create employees’ well-being programs
  • Listen to employees’ feedback
  • Express appreciation for work
  • Respect and value employee

 

  • Flexibility

Workplace flexibility is a crucial element in establishing a stable and healthy atmosphere. According to studies, approximately 40% of candidates seek employment with flexible work schedules. Therefore, workplace flexibility is no longer just a choice for businesses; it now becomes an essential practice to attract skilled and qualified individuals. Workplace flexibility is typically concerned with enough rest intervals and ample leaves for emergencies, which increases employee engagement and trust in the workplace.

  • Training and development

Training and development programs for growing skills and capabilities of working staff define the healthy and nurturing workplace atmosphere. To ensure optimal effectiveness, companies can utilize HR assessment tools to identify specific training needs. By doing so, they embolden the working staff to expand their ideas and nurture their skills through various career development programs. The well-trained and attentive staff is more capable of serving the company’s customers and clients. Companies’ skill development initiatives nurture employees’ abilities and improve their performance, which results in the creation of a favorable work environment.

  • Health and wellness

A robust organizational culture makes considerable investments in the mental and physical well-being of its employees. Understanding, appreciation, and mutual regards are supportive connections that maintain professional relationships in the office. Positive relationship balance at the workplace leads to good mental and physical health of employees. Mini breaks during office hours give relaxation and refreshment to employees to be more productive and mentally fit. Companies can offer extra health insurance benefits and healthy lifestyle options to boost the health of employees and their families. All these efforts taken by a company make employees feel valued and appreciated, which enhances the ethical reputation of the company in the market. 

  • Collaborative work

The cornerstone of any flourishing business or organization is teamwork. Mutual working on different important projects brings more creativity and quality to work. This also improves effective communication between employers and directors of a company. During collaborative work, managers can freely solicit the opinions of staff members and discuss possible product developments. Collective objectives are considerably more important than personal development. Thus, collaborative work encourages team interaction and the sharing of ideas, which fosters an engaging workplace.

  • Transparent and better communication

Open communication between employers and employees facilitates a positive working environment. Better communication in professional work makes employees feel they are a valuable part of the organization. Tactful conversations by managers or supervisors help employees to enhance their job performance. When employees get to know that company heads are more welcome to new ideas, then they efficiently try to give possible solutions in critical situations of the company. Skilled workers always need feedback and appreciation from employers. So giving feedback and allowing suggestions create an accessible and great workplace for all employees. 

  • Inspiring and unbiased leadership

All great workplaces can only run efficiently due to exceptional and inspiring leadership. A nice office and attractive campus can possibly attract job seekers for a while, but effective leadership inspires employees to be loyal to the company in the long run. These leaders value the work of employees and make unbiased decisions on problems. So this type of relationship develops trust, loyalty, and respect between employers and workers. Employees aspire to work in an environment where managers value their abilities and the effort they put for the company’s growth. Positive leadership thereby raises workplace standards and motivates employees to stay with the company for a long way.

Conclusion 

This article aims to provide all the necessary elements and traits that contribute to the development of a productive workplace. There are no foolproof techniques for establishing a wonderful workplace for businesses. Employers must consider the opinions and actual needs of their workforce when developing training and incentive programs that result in the contentment of the workforce with their employment.

Top 10 Important Considerations for Choosing the Best Courier Service

The world is rapidly moving towards the enlargement of e-commerce businesses. The truth is that running a business is a challenging task. It requires consistent improvement to reach certain heights. The utmost priority of businesses is to deliver their products or services to the customers efficiently. As if you have an online business, the shipping process plays a prominent role in getting new customers. It would not be wrong to say that an effective Courier system is the backbone of your online business. 

It is important to fulfill customers’ needs and accomplish their orders within a certain period. For that, you need an efficient courier system partner who helps to complete all your orders within the stipulated time. The type of courier service you use will affect the expansion of your business growth. If you are able to fulfill customers’ fast delivery needs then you can increase the customer retention rate for your business. So it is imperative to use the right and prompt courier service for your product delivery, but while choosing a courier service company, you must consider its customers’ reviews, charges, and business requirements. But how will you determine the reliability of the best delivery or courier service? Here are the ten most crucial factors you should consider while enabling courier service for your offline and online business. 

  1.  Check Trustworthiness

After appointing any courier service for your business, you will rely on them to transport your product to your customers. So, reliability should be one of your top considerations when selecting a courier service. If your delivered product is damaged or not well-handled during the shipping process, it is time to look for new courier service options. As a business owner, you must check the performance history of that courier company before choosing them as your delivery agent. You can examine their trustworthiness with the help of online reviews on their website and by discussing with their prior clients and customers. This helps you to check the quality of their service. 

  1. Tracking capability

An efficient tracking system will also allow you to determine whether there has been a delay and the fixed arrival time of your package. Without such a system, it is impossible to know what is happening with your delivery, which causes undue concern and tension. A good courier service should provide global tracking of delivery products that can be used in monitoring shipping processes. These tracking details can assist your customers in tracking their international products and packages without difficulty. 

  1. Location covered 

If your courier service company is able to cover all local and international shipping, then you can also take orders from outside customers and clients. So find the courier service which can manage to switch your orders globally. An efficient courier system that covers all locations will help you to expand your limits and capabilities to sell your products to every customer around the world. 

  1. Experience

If you are choosing a courier service for your e-commerce business, it is necessary to look for experienced courier facilities. It is preferable that you select a courier service provider who has been performing this work for a long time. After all, this service directly affects your customers’ satisfaction, which matters the most. Therefore, instead of placing orders in the hands of inexperienced providers, you should pick a seasoned and effective one that brings your items conveniently up to your customers’ doors.

  1. Delivery methods

As you are running an extended and successful e-commerce business, you need an efficient delivery service provider which allows you to transport your package and products by any route like air or ground shipping. A variety of delivery methods reveal the efficiency of that courier service provider. Depending upon your needs, you may require different delivery options at any time. If any customer needs overnight or another needs international service, your courier service team should be prepared to shop for their parcels as early as possible. So this is one of the considerations you should look for while confirming a courier service partner for your business. 

  1. Speed of delivery

An essential factor in the shipping process is your speedy delivery to your consumer. On-time delivery reflects your good impression and the credibility of your business to your clients and customers. Most e-commerce businesses have to deliver their products with 24/7 support, so it is necessary to have a fast courier agency to fulfill the needs of your customers. According to statistical data, about 80% of customers prioritize the delivery experience of any e-commerce business. About 88% of customers are ready to pay extra to get their product delivered quicker. 

  1. Handling attitude 

No matter how delicate or strong your products are for shipping, the way of handling them is important. Sometimes customers get damaged and defeated pieces of products due to improper handling of the delivery system. This type of handling attitude of courier agencies will affect your business economically and results in losing customer trust and support. So you can check the handling efficiency of the courier team by taking reviews and opinions of your customers that enable you to ask your courier agent for improvements. 

  1. Customer service

Customer support is a valuable thing that most e-commerce businesses never think about because support to customers in their dissatisfaction will enable them to trust your firm and business in any condition. Therefore, you should also confirm that your delivery company assists your clients with their inquiries and dissatisfaction issues. Any consumer who receives a defective product will be able to contact your courier service representative to alert you and arrange an easy exchange. This simple return policy will boost client dependence and faith in you, which is advantageous for your company’s long-term objectives.

  1. Review of former customers

Reviewing old customers also matters the most when choosing the appropriate courier service for your business. This consideration helps you to check the reliability of that courier agency and its overall reputation in the business world. You can visit their official website to refer to ratings and online reviews to get reviews. Studies of former clients show you the positive and negative side of that courier agency according to your business requirements. 

  1.  Payment details

As you need courier service assistance 24/7 for your customers’ easy delivery, it is vital to look for cost considerations before choosing a courier team. When determining the appropriate delivery fees, the agency considers several parameters, including the weight and size of the product and the shipping location. By taking your expenses into account, you may select a courier service that enables you to meet your business needs.

Fred Voccola: Right Place, Right Time

As the world recalibrates after the COVID-19 pandemic and is facing, what could be, another global economic slowdown, you may wonder why Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola is so optimistic. For Voccola, it’s due in large part to his belief that Kaseya is in the right place, at the right time.

Globally, small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are making up a larger and larger portion of global economic activity. The continued success of SMBs around the world is attributed to technology and the capabilities it provides them to compete with larger, more established companies. SMBs are investing in technology at a rate never before seen and will continue to do so as the global economy becomes more and more SMB-centric.

Considering that SMBs, by definition, are small and medium-sized, most do not have their own internal IT staff. To take advantage of these technology opportunities, SMBs turn to local IT service providers, often referred to as managed service providers (MSPs), to deliver the IT and security solutions that are required to fully take advantage of the potential of technology for their businesses.

This rapid adoption and investment in technology by SMBs, often called digital transformation, is still in its early stage, and Voccola’s company produces the software kit the MSPs rely on to deliver a safe, scalable, and secure IT experience to the global small and medium-sized business community.

The COVID-19 pandemic completely transformed the ways companies do business, particularly SMBs. Your local restaurant pivoted to online orders, while the gym transitioned to virtual classes, and your physician turned to the use of telehealth visits. Most, if not all, of the changes to business operating norms, were technology-enabled in one way or another.

This change was already well on its way in 2020-but the pandemic accelerated these changes due to the fact that in many instances, they were the only way that these SMBs could function for months, and in some cases, over a year.

Fast forward to fall 2022 and MSPs are more popular than ever. The reason is simple. Most SMBs have a very small or nonexistent internal staff – but still, have the same needs for comprehensive technology services as a 1,000-person company. In fact, approximately 80% of small to medium-sized businesses in the western world engage with MSPs to receive their IT and cybersecurity services. And these MSPs turn to Kaseya.

Kaseya is the leading global provider of unified IT management and security software for MSPs. Through Kaseya, they can deliver IT and security solutions cost-effectively and efficiently to their customers around the world.

Voccola, who joined as Kaseya’s CEO in 2015, had a clear vision for the company from the start: simplify IT for MSPs and solve the main challenges they face – vendor fatigue, lost technician efficiency, limited software utilization, and limited software budgets. Seven years later, his vision is beginning to become a reality with Kaseya’s IT Complete platform, an integrated platform for the overworked and under-appreciated multifunction IT professional.

“We have architected our platform – IT Complete – purposely for MSPs and the unique challenges they face,” Voccola said. “It’s the largest reason we’ve been successful to date.”

The Road to IT Complete

IT Complete is a fully integrated platform of IT management and security solutions that are purpose-built for the unique workflows and challenges that MSPs face while delivering their solutions to small to medium-sized businesses. Pre-Kaseya, the average MSP uses software from 17 different vendors. With most MSPs having less than 20 people in their company, they do not have a dedicated vendor management organization. This is a tremendous administrative burden that IT Complete eliminates.

“With all solutions commercially integrated into one platform, IT Complete provides one solution and one vendor infrastructure to cover the ever-expanding IT and security demands of businesses,” Voccola explains.

For the MSP, the most important aspect of their business is the efficiency of their technicians. The more customers a technician can service in a day, the more successful the MSP is. MSP technicians lose as much as half their working day too tedious manual tasks and research activities due to a lack of technical product integrations from the tens of unintegrated products they are forced to use from as many different vendors. IT Complete’s streamlined workflows between modules woven together increase technician productivity by up to 40%. The platform is also highly intelligent – using the Cooper Intelligence Engine, named after Voccola’s dog Cooper, to proactively guide and direct technicians to ensure they are leveraging all aspects of the solution and maximizing their software investments.

Finally, on average, each module of IT Complete costs 30-40% less than the competitive software solutions for each module cost; in short, Kaseya is saving its MSPs significant dollars that can then go directly to the bottom line of the MSP.

“By providing an integrated platform, we are able to charge less compared to an MSP having to piecemeal together 12 to 20 products from 17 different vendors,” Voccola said. “This can really make a huge impact on a three-person or 100-person MSP. MSPs are then able to invest in other areas of their business and become more competitive.”

Voccola is best known in the space for his successful acquisition of multiple technology companies to continuously build out the IT Complete platform. Under his leadership, Kaseya has experienced tremendous growth and Kaseya’s robust family of brands now includes Datto, Graphus, ID Agent, IT Glue, RapidFire Tools, RocketCyber, Spanning Cloud Apps, and Unitrends.

“Right now, we’re approximately seven years into a journey of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and we’re still only one-third of the way done,” Voccola said. “But at the same time, I don’t know if we’ll ever be done. Technology changes at such a rapid pace; there’s no way to predict the problems people will be facing in another six years, but we are committed to serving our customers through these changes.”

A Lucky Career Break

Voccola initially envisioned a Wall Street career in his early days in university, but quickly shifted his focus to early-stage software companies after successfully starting and selling his first technology company in college.

“I did it (became a software entrepreneur) purely because I couldn’t get hired by Wall Street,” Voccola shared. “I tried and tried, but the Wall Street firms did not like me. I assume I was not ‘Wall Street’ material. However, it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me in my professional career because, without realizing it, I jumpstarted my career into what I believe is the greatest industry to be in, software and technology. The software industry is amazing and has been great to me. I love innovation, the constant drive to challenge things and make things better, working with super smart people, and getting to build great, amazing products that add tangible value to customers. To me, the software and tech industry is the ultimate meritocracy; you get rewarded for adding value. I mean, what other industry on the planet could a 20-something-year-old kid with no industry contacts or connections get by and be taken seriously based on his merits, with no concern about, ‘where did you go to school?’ or ‘who do you know?’”

Voccola went on to co-found and serve as the EVP of Sales and Marketing at Identify Software before it was bought by BMC Software (NYSE: BMC). Voccola attributes his time at Identify Software as when he did the bulk of his early professional growth. He would go on to lead various software and internet technology companies in multiple sectors to global success. One of those was Trust Technology Corp, a fintech SaaS platform, which Voccola co-founded and served as president and CEO. Trust was successfully sold to FGI Global. Additionally, Voccola served as president and general manager of Yodle for Brand Networks, which successfully exited to Web.com (NASDAQ: WEB). Prior to that, he served as the president of Nolio, Inc., a DevOps SaaS company that sold to CA Technologies (NYSE: CA).

“At startups, you are solving problems on an hourly basis and constantly must pivot,” Voccola said. “You’re faced with thousands of challenges, so decisions need to be made rapidly and often. A successful tech company needs to constantly adjust and make decisions to stay successful because the status quo changes so often – and I was lucky enough to exercise this muscle early on in my career.”

People Come First

Fast forward to Kaseya, a global powerhouse with over 4,000 employees around the world and billions of dollars in revenue. Voccola credits a huge part of Kaseya’s success to an unwavering approach to customer and employee-centricity. The company has been built around a culture of “making our customers successful.”

“Everything we do is with our customers in mind, everything – we can never forget that customers are what allow us (Kaseyans) to provide for our families and send our children to college and live the lives we are so blessed to live … we only exist because of them,” he added.

Similarly, Voccola believes that people are the company’s most important asset, and often takes risks on employees that other companies may not.

“The best part of leading an organization is the satisfaction that comes from the positive change I get to witness in our employees’ lives,” Voccola said. “I’ve seen people go from directionless jobseekers to purpose-driven leaders, all while building their skills and empowering their peers to grow. That’s what Kaseya is all about.”

One of the initiatives Voccola is most proud of is the company’s Grow Your Own program, which offers mentorship and defines a clear pathway for people to grow within the company. The initiative has seen the rise of many first-time managers and leaders. To date, Kaseya has successfully developed dozens of first-time executives and hundreds of junior executives. People who came into the company at an entry-level role have grown and are now leading large teams.

Leading the Way

Mentorship is something Voccola is passionate about. He can often be seen walking the sales floors at Kaseya speaking with the teams. His personal motto is to leave it better than you found it, in both his professional and personal life. He believes in turning weaknesses into strengths, and steadfast grit to get things done. This philosophy was taught to him by his father, who was a pioneer in the electronic toll collection space and later helped develop in-vehicle navigation. He credits his dad as one of his first mentors, exposing him to a problem-solving mindset and teaching him how creativity can lead to innovations and change people’s lives for the better.

Growth Mindset

SMBs are growing exponentially, and IT and security is increasingly vital to the success of their businesses. Kaseya is expanding aggressively to keep pace with this explosive growth. The company is growing both its global footprint and its human capital. Just this year, Kaseya acquired Datto in June 2022 for $6.2 billion. The acquisition combined Datto’s world-class customer experience and support and Kaseya’s complementary products and strategies that drive innovation and global market development, providing MSPs around the globe with broader and better-integrated solutions. In addition to growth through acquisition, Kaseya has expanded organically in its five centers of excellence located in Miami, Florida; Krakow, Poland; Dundalk, Ireland; Sydney, Australia, and Bangalore, India.

“The fact I get to witness and play a part in this industry growth has been tremendously rewarding,” Voccola said. “I am so lucky and humbled to be able to lead a company like Kaseya with customers as amazing as ours in an industry that is always changing, evolving, and presenting new challenges. I’m looking forward to seeing what is next.”

Given Kaseya’s track record in anticipating the needs of its customers, Voccola is definitely in the right place, at the right time.

 

Exit mobile version