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Why Do Engineers Make Good CEOs?

Posted: 26 Nov 2019 12:00 PM PST

Whether we're discussing Henry Ford, Thomas Edison or Herbert Hoover, engineers have proven time and time again that they have the capacity to be excellent leaders and astonishingly good business managers. Nevertheless, relatively few people in the business world understand why, exactly, engineers excel when it comes to running the business and making difficult decisions regarding the future.

Why do engineers make such efficient CEOs, anyway? Here's a breakdown of the engineering mindset, and why it's proven to be so successful when it comes to raising profits and lowering costs.

Being detail-oriented pays off

It's a simple matter of fact that being an engineer demands strong mental aptitude and a willingness to pay attention to minute details that others may ignore. If you're designing a bridge, a small, barely perceptible mistake could cause the entire structure to come crashing down, costing countless millions of dollars and potentially the loss of human life itself. 

The fact that engineers are drilled from their earliest days to pay attention to the small details that escape the notice of others without a doubt, helps propel them to success when they assume a leadership position within a company. While engineers are often described as introverts, this quality by no means impedes their ability to be effective leaders who inspire brilliance in the ranks.

According to numerous analyses, engineering is the most common undergraduate degree for Fortune 500 CEOs. This fact alone should lead us to pause whenever we're about to insinuate that a good leader demands a robust background in business. It boils down to more than "being good problem solvers" or finding themselves capable of catching the small details that were unnoticed by others. Engineers are often excellent CEOs because of the systematic way that they're taught to approach the world and the problems they'll find within it.

Take Microsoft's Satya Nadella for example. Nadella studied electrical engineering and today, as the CEO of Microsoft, he is credited for helping the company turn itself around in the face of an onslaught from Apple. Nadella initiated moves like bringing Microsoft Office to the iPad and releasing apps such as Outlook to the iPhone. These bold moves may have seemed unthinkable to some, but Nadella saw the bigger picture and by 2018, he had pushed the company's slumping revenue up to $110 billion.

What makes an engineer a true engineer?

More than anything else, it's fostering systems thinking, wherein your mental process takes into consideration every facet of a business, machine, or person before making a crucial decision surrounding that thing. If you're incapable of breaking down a complex machine into its various parts before reassembling it in your head, it's unfortunately likely that you don't have an engineering mindset. 

Like Microsoft's Satya Nadella, engineers Elon Musk and James Dyson both have that mindset. Engineers have a unique way of looking at a problem and their way of defining it is what leads to them ultimately solving it. "Design is just problem solving," Dyson told Wired. "I'm a designer and an engineer, I get angry about things that don't work, like hand dryers, endless paper towels, what a huge waste." Sometimes the problem is a hand dryer, and other times it's bringing back a company's sagging revenue.

A big part of that problem solving is the relentless perseverance to actually solve the problem rather than place blame somewhere else. If you asked most engineers, they would probably tell you that they're stubborn individuals. If something isn't working properly, they'll keep trying new methods until it does work. We've all heard the story of Thomas Edison saying that he didn't fail 1,000 times when inventing the light bulb, but that there were merely 1,000 steps to inventing it. 

Perseverance, of course, isn't limited to the engineering mind, but when an individual with strong perseverance and a talent for engineering takes a leadership role in a company, they often make headway where others may have struggled.   

Those who are capable of fully embracing the strong engineering mindset are more likely to understand each and every facet of their business, finding themselves capable of leveraging their broad knowledge of a company to make wise long-term decisions on the basis of what the company is best at. They don't merely look at a business as one entity, but as a complex machine where each component has a specific function and purpose that makes up the greater engine.

We live in a world of complex systems

Now more than ever before, our world is dominated by inscrutable, complex systems that challenge the human mind. It's effectively impossible to be an investor in the stock market by yourself, for instance – these days, you need data-crunching tools to make sense of all the information that's flowing around the marketplace. 

Similarly, it's quite challenging to become a good medical professional if you're not familiar with the various healthcare technologies that enable you to learn more about patients from their extensive medical histories. Living in a world of complex systems has its pros and cons, but it's growing increasingly obvious that engineers are capable of mastering this world and thriving in it when others struggle to keep their heads above water.

In the near-future, engineering degree guides will be just as important towards the future wellbeing of your company as market research is. If companies find themselves incapable of attracting the best engineering talent available on the open market, they'll slowly but surely lose ground to competitors who foster better systems thinking hierarchies within the ranks of their business. 

Finding the most talented engineering candidates for your company will never be easy, which is why businesses are strongly advised to create talent pipelines that lead directly from major universities into the halls of their company.  

Engineers who climb the company ranks also tend to recruit talent that has a similar way of looking at and solving problems. They look for those who have an analytical and architectural way of thinking because it allows for making wiser and more informed decisions. It should come as no surprise that companies such as Amazon, Tesla, and General Motors are all doing highly innovative things with engineers at the helm. The leaders of these Fortune 500 companies have undoubtedly scouted out the top talent to work alongside them. 

Being detail-oriented and analytical is excellent for CEOs, but these qualities aren't strictly those of an engineer; many who are terrible at engineering can nevertheless be deeply analytical and catch the small mistakes that others missed. 

Being able to truly understand the system they're dealing with and willing to make a calculated risk is what will pay off more than anything, which is why engineers who have experience in the business environment will find themselves in hot demand for the foreseeable future. The unique studies and training they undergo will simply make them capable of viewing the bigger picture in a way their non-engineering competitors simply can't fathom.

Whether it's their unique understanding of modern technologies or their ability to break down complex systems for the benefit of their company's profit margins, engineers have consistently proven themselves to be excellent CEOs. As the rest of the 21st century unfolds, businesses everywhere would be well advised to put additional resources into scouting out the best engineering talent available. 

How to Create Greater Brand Awareness in 2020

Posted: 26 Nov 2019 07:00 AM PST

Strong brand awareness for your business means that people can recall your brand and products easily. Brand awareness is essential for consumers to remember your brand in relation to a specific product. This is important when trying to create trust and drive conversions. 

Set off your branding activities with a strong push in the new year, and you could make 2020 a success in terms of business growth. Your business needs to build brand awareness for several key reasons, including:

  • It increases visitors to your website

  • It increases conversions

  • It increases word-of-mouth marketing and brand referrals 

You can influence your brand's presence using different strategies. Here are several helpful ways to bring your brand into the spotlight in the coming year. 

Start with a plan

Having a plan makes it easier to create a successful branding strategy for 2020. During the planning phase, ask yourself the following questions: 

  • What are your branding and marketing goals?

  • Who is your audience? 

  • What channels will you use to build brand awareness?

Creating a plan will help you figure out if you're on track to achieving your goals. Understanding your audience is vital because your actions will depend on their preferences. Today, millennials make up a significant part of the global audience. Your strategies must consider their values and needs. Creating a plan will give you a solid foundation that will help launch all your other activities. 

Create personalization

You're more likely to make people remember you if they feel like you're paying attention to them individually. Creating personalized communication is an effective way to improve brand recall. People are so overwhelmed by impersonal marketing communication that personalized content stands out. Use CRM software and email marketing services to address users by their names in marketing communication.

Integrate analytics into your website to get data about your audience. You can use data from your CRM tools and analytics to segment your email list. Segmenting your email list based on users' preferences, queries and purchase histories is powerful. Email segmentation lets you send out customized offers and news that appeals to consumers. Personalization shows that you are paying attention to people and are reaching out to them as individuals. In a world where marketing messages are forced on people, this can create better brand recall.

Focus on content marketing

Content Marketing is at the heart of any business's online digital marketing efforts. Without content marketing, companies need to incur high advertising expenses repeatedly.

You're also unlikely to see any benefit from advertisements if your site doesn't have great content to back them up. Creating content needs to be a priority when trying to build brand awareness. When creating content, it's important to remember that people are research-oriented. You need to produce great content to keep people on your site. Focus on offering in-depth information that gives value.

Content through blogs, guest posts and social media can build an online presence and boost your brand's SEO. There are two compelling content types that businesses should consider using in 2020:

  • Video Content: Video content gets a high amount of engagement and is very compelling. With the rise of internet-enabled mobile phones, more people than ever can create and watch videos on-the-go. It's essential to add video content as part of your content strategy because it's engaging. It also gives your brand a face and a personality, which in turn makes it more humanizing. 
  • Interactive Content: It's important to stop thinking of your audience as people who must be fed promotional content. You can build a lasting relationship with your customers by interacting with them. Use interactive content as a way to engage customers to co-create with them and to improve brand recall. Interactive content, such as polls and contests, tells customers that you care about their opinion. It makes your brand more memorable and increases engagement. 

You can harness the power of videos and interactive content using social media. Virtually all major social media platforms have "Stories" as part of their features. Stories are images or short videos that are visible for 24 hours. You can add polls, hashtags, and other features to let users interact with your brand.

Develop a voice and personality

You need to humanize your brand and make it relatable to people. One way to do this is to create a personality for your business on social media and your website. Try to incorporate humor to spark emotions in people. Try to build content in 2020 that focuses on evoking emotions in people. Emotions, such as hope, joy and curiosity, can make your brand memorable. 

The key to winning people over is going to depend on building relationships. Make your brand feel like a real person and generate emotions through content to become memorable. 

Optimize for mobile

If your site isn't optimized for mobile screens, then you are likely to lose traffic to your site  Most people use their smartphones as the primary means of getting information. They also visit sites and make purchases on their phones. This means you need to ensure your site and content are suitable for mobile screens. Mobile-friendly content and mobile responsiveness allow people to consume content easily.

Make sure you use popups, chat support, and other features that work well on both smaller screens and desktops. 

Carry out omnichannel marketing

In order to stand out today, you need to build brand awareness on multiple channels. People are active on different channels, and you could miss out on an interested audience by relying on a single channel for traffic. Create effective marketing strategies that cover several platforms. You can use a social media management tool to post to different sites at once. Stay active and participate in discussions on forums, Q&A sites and other places. You can create content, or leverage advertising options, to create brand awareness. 

Leverage user-generated content

Getting people to trust you can make your brand memorable. People believe their peers more than they do marketing messages. So, using content generated by your users and audience can build social proof and create better brand recall. Leverage reviews, blog posts and social media posts as sources of user-generated content.

Showcase your values

Your audience, especially the millennial segment, is conscious of ethical behavior. They care about quality and price, but they also care about a business's values. Feature your values in marketing communication and make it a key part of your corporate identity.

Build loyalty

Businesses survive and grow by building long-term relationships. Creating brand loyalty means you'll get brand advocates who will create awareness for your brand. An effective way to build loyalty is to create membership sites. 

Membership site platforms let you build a brand community where people can share their experiences. It creates a sense of belonging and exclusivity, which boosts brand awareness. 

As the new year arrives, your business is poised to capture opportunities that can help it grow. It would help if you started now to build brand awareness. Use the strategies and ideas given here to develop brand recall in your audience. When people know your brand and share it online, you'll see a powerful impact on your business's success.

 

5 Website Metrics You Should Be Tracking

Posted: 26 Nov 2019 06:00 AM PST

  • Google Analytics is used by bloggers, e-commerce storefronts and non-profits as a way to judge website growth. 

  • Learning about how your audience behaves when on your site helps you make smart marketing decisions. 

  • Mobile users are at an all-time high, so ensuring you have a mobile responsive site is crucial for success

  • Forms are an excellent way to judge engagement and the overall sentiment of your target audience.

Business owners in every industry use Google Analytics as a way to track the performance of their website. Google Analytics contains a wealth of information available to people who want to reach their target audience, improve sales and check the health of their site. Additionally, marketers can use this information to create personalized ads and content, which translates to more conversions and email subscribers. 

There are countless reports and statistics you can pull from your Google Analytics report, but today we wanted to focus on five metrics that can help you grow your small business. We are going to look at reports that help you track blog engagement, user demographics, mobile statistics, and more. 

1. Top posts/pages

First, you should check your top posts if you want to learn about the kind of content consumers regularly view on your website. Understanding your blog traffic and most-viewed pages can help you make educated decisions when you're assessing whether your content marketing strategy is effective. 

If you look at your top posts, and they all focus on one topic within your niche, you can decide to create more content around that category. For example, let's say you operate a marketing website and you see that all of your top posts focus on email marketing. There's a good chance that this subject will get you more traffic in the future. Knowing this, you can start thinking about topics you can cover for your blog that fit under the umbrella of email marketing. 

Additionally, you can optimize your top posts and pages as a way to generate more leads to your website. Optimized landing pages generate 220% more leads when compared to popular pages that remain untouched after their creation. Data about your most popular content is pivotal to continued financial growth. 

2. User demographics

Once you understand which pages perform well, you can start looking at your user demographics to build useful customer personas. The demographics tab on your Google Analytics account lets you know the gender, age, location, the device used to view your site, and much more. 

As your small business generates more traffic, you'll have more information about your demographics, which will help you grow. If you're thinking about launching a paid social media campaign, you should analyze your social and website analytics so you can create ads that appeal to your target audience. 

Understanding your users is the key to growing your website. It's nearly impossible to create blog posts and engage with your users if you don't have detailed information on the people that visit your website. Understanding the demographics of your target audience can help you create customer personas for your site, which you need to scale your business successfully. 

For example, if you know that a majority of your audience lives in the EU, but your website is based in the US, you may want to adjust your content and social media scheduling to accommodate your primary audience. 

3. Google AMP statistics

There are more mobile users worldwide than ever before. Research suggests that there are well over three billion mobile users, and that number is growing year over year. Google's Accelerated Mobile Project (AMP) is a relatively new statistic that allows business owners to review the behavior of mobile users on their website. 

Why do you need this information? Mobile users are responsible for a majority of searches and overall website traffic. If you want people using their smartphones to stay on your site, you have to make sure you are using a mobile responsive design. 

You can take it a step further and analyze the kinds of devices used by consumers that visit your page. This data can help you build a website that works across all smartphones and tablets, especially the ones that are popular with your users. 

4. Form engagement rate 

Website forms come in a variety of shapes and sizes. There's a good chance you have a contact page, the ability to subscribe to your email list, as well as frequent polls and surveys. These are all examples of forms, and they are a significant factor when determining user engagement and the general health of your website. 

Your analytics data will reveal how many people are filling out your forms, who abandoned halfway through and how they responded. You can use all of this information to create a better user experience for your audience, as well as a way to determine customer pain points and goals. 

If you notice that a marginal majority of consumers bounce from your form before completion, this is a sign that you should either shorten or simplify your questions. Extensive split-testing can help you create forms that provide a wealth of valuable information about your target audience and their browsing habits.

The more information you have on your audience, the greater chance you have of creating a website that meets the needs of your customers. Consumers want to visit businesses where they feel like their opinion matters, and tracking your form engagement rate can help you make smart decisions for a better user experience. 

5. Exit pages

Exit page statistics are essential for measuring the weak points on your website. To create a well-rounded user experience, you should regularly check your analytics to see what page has the highest bounce rate and lowest traffic. 

There's a chance this information could help you uncover hidden issues plaguing your website. Let's say you notice the bounce rate of your checkout page goes up 50 percent after a new update. Your analytics will reveal this information, and you can meet with your developers and try to pinpoint a cause. When you notice consumer behavior change drastically over a short period of time, there's a good chance that a glitch or bug is causing complications. 

Exit pages also let you know what kind of content resonates with your audience. An abnormally high exit rate on your new experimental blog post could indicate that your target audience isn't as invested in that topic. 

There are many other Google Analytics metrics that you should track if you're a small business owner. However, the five metrics we mentioned are all critical for ensuring the continued growth of your website. 

You should review your analytics weekly, monthly and quarterly for breakthrough trends and statistics. The more time you spend with the baseline "normal" for your website, the better chance you have at conquering the positive and negative outliers. For instance, if you introduce a new blog sub-category that has a 200% traffic increase over previous posts, there's a good chance your website will benefit from more content about this topic. 

As your business grows, you'll uncover more information about your target audience and what they expect from your site. Remember, it doesn't matter how much your business grows; analytics data is the best way to fine-tune your website.

 

5 Ways AI Improves Customer Service

Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:00 AM PST

  • Artificial Intelligence plays a crucial role in mastering customer service. 
  • By 2020, chatbot use in enterprises could hit an all-time high of 80%.  
  • Consumers expect fast response times, personalized offers and individual attention. 
  • Data gathered with AI can help you improve your products, design, and support. 

Are you thinking about adding artificial intelligence to assist with your customer support team? If so, you're not alone. Business experts use AI in virtually every industry. According to Chatbots Magazine, 80% of enterprises will supplement their customer service team with chatbot technology. 

Customer satisfaction translates to more sales, fewer refunds and better user experiences. A well-oiled customer service team can improve visitors and paying customers alike. When your support team can handle customer questions and problems, the result is a stronger business that focuses on creating a worthwhile experience for your target audience. 

There are plenty of practical reasons you should consider adding AI to your service team. We are going to look at five significant ways businesses can improve customer support for consumers and your employees. 

Increased conversion rates

Consumers are far less patient for information than they were a decade ago. We can now get answers to all of our questions just by reaching into our pocket and pulling out our smartphone. Access to 24-hour support is key to keeping visitors engaged with your brand. Research shows you're seven times more likely to convert a lead if you answer them in less than 60 minutes. 

Chatbots are an excellent use for AI that allows business owners to keep in touch with their audience, even if there's no human employee to answer their questions. The great part about using chatbots in this instance is you can program them to answer common questions that consumers may have. If someone comes to your website for the first time and wants to know the average price for your services, a chatbot can direct customers to your pricing page, and even offer them an exclusive discount if they accept your offer on the spot. 

Overall, AI helps business owners increase their conversion rate with new visitors, but what about existing customers? 

Retain existing customers 

Customer retention is a vital part of growing your business. One time purchases are beneficial, but a 5% increase in retention can increase profits by 25%. In other words, you should do everything you can to ensure that customers come back for repeat purchases. 

A competent customer service team is necessary for retaining customers. Let's say someone comes to your website for their second purchase, but first, they want to know if you have any articles about the product that caught their attention. They are not going to spend all day browsing your blog for one piece of content. 

Customer service teams that incorporate artificial intelligence can handle these requests with ease. Instead of letting the visitor blindly scroll through your blog, they can directly message a chatbot on your website and ask for articles about the product. Your bot will send out an immediate response, and you'll have a better chance of keeping that customer invested in your business. 

Make personalized recommendations

Netflix, Amazon and many e-commerce storefronts offer personalized recommendations for their users. The first two companies show their recommendations in the form of movie and product recommendations on-site or within the app. When you consider the data analysis that takes place during this process, it's clear that AI plays a role in making product and show suggestions. 

E-commerce platforms have a wide range of options when it comes to personalized recommendations with AI. The first option is similar to what Amazon uses on their site. You can group your products into different categories and create rules for your AI software to offer products based on consumer behavior, including past purchases. 

You can use the data mined from this software to improve your customer support on the email marketing side of your business. Your live representatives can analyze the raw data points gathered and recommendations of the AI program to create personalized experiences for each customer. Research shows that personalized, segmented emails tend to receive a 100% higher click-through rate when compared to "canned" responses. 

Review customer feedback 

While we are on the topic of AI and raw data, let's talk about how you can use this technology to analyze and implement customer feedback. Artificial intelligence can handle simple tasks, like compiling data from forms and surveys into comprehensive reports. You can use this information to see the general sentiment of your audience and better understand their pain points. 

AI shines when it comes to identifying patterns customers exhibit both intentionally and unintentionally. For example, you can generate a report from your AI customer support to see what kind of topics are driving consumers to your website. 

If you notice that 80 percent of all blog-related inquiries are about a specific topic, it's safe to say that more content about that topic would see increased traffic. This behavior is an intentional pattern. Consumers are actively seeking this information. 

Identify and squash bugs 

Unintentional patterns generally fall under bugs and glitches. AI can pinpoint and analyze data about the experience customers have on your website. These reports can help educate and train your live customer support team while improving the development of your website. When you can identify trends, you can make your live team aware of these issues so they can address customers with confidence if they come to them with a concern. 

Let's say your bounce rate on the checkout page goes up 70% after a new update. There's a good chance that there is a bug on that page that is preventing people from finishing the check out process. At the same time, your live support team is getting inquiries about how they can't complete their purchase. These patterns are the result of a problem on your end and need your immediate attention. 

AI allows us to learn what is baseline normal, so we can make smart decisions when looking for bugs or looking for new ways to grow our websites from a developmental standpoint. The key to identifying development opportunities is extensive report research. You have to look at this data if you want to identify areas of opportunity, as well as learn where you're doing things right.

Customer service teams are on the front lines of our company. They are responsible for making sure customers have a great experience and get all of their questions answered along the way. AI is helping customer service employees analyze feedback, make accurate product recommendations, bring in new visitors and retain existing customers.  

Artificial intelligence has improved customer support experience in many ways over the past decade. There's an upward trend of new and exciting advances in the AI field, and the horizon is looking bright for business owners. Some predict that by the year 2022, AI could be a global market worth well over 50 billion dollars. 

As time goes on, we are going to find new and exciting ways to build better websites for our audience. A mix of both live support and AI is crucial for timely, accurate and personalized customer service. 

 

SPONSORED: Beyond Data Loss Protection

Posted: 22 Nov 2019 03:00 PM PST

Many small businesses (SMBs) assume that because they're relatively small, they're unlikely to be targets of cybersecurity attacks. While this may be the impression created by the extensive media coverage of attacks on large corporations, small businesses are, in fact, not only susceptible but a favorite target of bad actors. In fact, according to Verizon's 2019 Data Breach Investigation Report, 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses.

As a small business owner, it is not only your responsibility, but it's in your best interest, to protect your private data. Ignoring this growing risk can be detrimental to your company. Rather, you should take every precaution you can to prevent such attacks. Here's what you need to know about data loss and why you should invest in protecting your small business from it.

 

Risks have never been greater

While it's important to take preventative measures to ensure your business' data isn't compromised in the first place, bad actors are always inventing new ways of infiltrating and compromising business networks and data stores. Due to this, business owners and IT teams will constantly be chasing the evolution of cyber attack technologies. It is inevitable the bad guys will get access to your data, encrypting it and holding it for ransom, corrupting it, or even wiping it out completely.

In the past, many SMBs chose not to invest in data loss protection software simply because the threat against smaller businesses was much less severe. Today, malware and data theft monetization strategies have made it easier to attack smaller companies. Additionally, because of limited resources and budgets, many SMBs simply don't have the defenses in place to protect them from the threat of cyber attacks. In other words, hackers no longer discriminate between large and small businesses.

Recognizing these threats is the first step to preventing your small business from data loss and ensuring when an incident occurs that you are able to quickly recover any lost or compromised data.

Consequences of data loss

While there are many obvious risks to a data loss incident, such as third parties gaining access to your customers' credit card numbers or your private company information, some consequences are more severe and long-term, especially when companies are unable to recover data. Here are a few consequences to consider:

1. Loss of revenue

Most cyber attackers share one main goal: making money. The term ransomware itself, refers to the fact that your own data will be held hostage by the hackers until you pay a ransom. If you're not protecting your data by keeping at least one backup, you may have to pay up in order to access your own customer lists, client files, and financial information. In some cases, even when you pay the ransom, your files can't be decrypted and are lost forever. And the longer you go without access to your important data, like customer lists, client work files, and financial information, the more actual business revenue you will likely lose.

2. Distrust from customers

Customers and clients typically invest in those they trust. If your company experiences a cyber attack and your customers are negatively affected by it, you'll have to work that much harder to build trust with current and future customers. Some businesses never fully recover, and many go out of business entirely. Recovering data quickly and with minimal impact to customers is key to maintaining customer trust and confidence in your business.

3. Internal theft

Many SMBs overlook their own employees when evaluating malicious attackers. Because their business is on the smaller side, they assume they can trust the limited staff they employ. However, this isn't always the case. The fact is, not every employee leaves happy. And when an unhappy employee decides to delete a host of key business critical data and files, it can be even more disastrous than an anonymous cyber attacker. This is why it's crucial to have a backup plan in place to recover that data.

4. Lawsuits

The word "lawsuit" alone is enough to make a business owner's stomach churn. Unfortunately, in the case of lost customer or product data, you might be faced with one (or multiple) lawsuits. It's your responsibility not only to keep customer data safe, but to be able to restore the information in the event of data loss. Additionally, backup and recovery protocols are often required to stay in compliance with national and industry regulations.

 

Four reasons why SMBs should use data loss protection tools

Security should be at the forefront of your priorities, and it doesn't have to break the bank. Still unsure whether you should invest in data loss protection? Here are four reasons to do so:

1. Protect sensitive data

Your business doesn't have to be a well-known corporation to have sensitive data worth protecting, like intellectual property and customer information. In fact, many attackers actually focus on smaller businesses because of their size, assuming they'll be easy targets. Deploying backup & recovery software will help to protect your important business data and allow you to get back up and running while you address the source and root cause of the data loss incident. Businesses that are unable to recover their data can experience days or even weeks of downtime due to lost or corrupted data. Many businesses ultimately never get their data back and end up shutting their doors entirely.

2. Comply with national and industry regulations

Regardless of size, all businesses must comply with national and industry regulations. Data loss protection technologies – such as cloud-based backup & recovery software - aid compliance by allowing your business to quickly recover confidential information.

3. Reduce threats to mobility

Many small business owners can't afford an office space or company equipment for each employee, committing to a remote work and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) arrangement. While this is a convenient money-saving tactic, especially for startups, it can also be risky. An increased risk of lost or stolen laptops can also mean an increased risk to the data that lives on them. To combat these risks, SMBs should use data loss protection solutions that regularly back up data and can recover it in the event of a lost or stolen device.

4. Protect valuable data during mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions are more common than many people think. With each merger and acquisition comes a risk of losing data as divergent systems are consolidated, as well as the risk of malfeasance or data deletion by disgruntled former employees. Furthermore, data loss is one of the biggest reasons why mergers and acquisitions fail. If you plan to grow your business through a merger or acquisition, you should be sure to invest in data loss protection.  

Data loss protection for your business

So, you now likely understand the importance of data loss protection for organizations of all sorts and sizes. But which is the right tool for your business?

We recommend CrashPlan for Small Business for Small Business, easy-to-use, unlimited and automatic data loss protection, specifically for small businesses. For just $10 a month per computer, CrashPlan offers enterprise-grade data loss protection at small business prices. The software offers cloud-based backup and makes protecting files on your devices, including your file server and external hard drives, fast and easy.

Beyond data loss protection, CrashPlan offers unlimited backup, automatic and continuous protection, flexible scheduling, version retention configuration, military-grade AES-256 at-rest file encryption, customized deleted file retention, and CPU usage settings, and it is compatible with Mac, PC and Linux.

Additionally, CrashPlan has a dedicated support staff available by phone, chat and email, as well as online support documentation.

If you're on the fence about whether to invest in data loss protection, consider the impact a data loss incident might have on your business and its customers or clients. No matter how small your company might be, it's still on the radar for attackers across the board. Invest in a quality data loss protection program like CrashPlan so you can ensure compliance and protection with ease.

 
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