3 Ways Business is Changing in the Information Age

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Digital Technology|3 Ways Business is Changing in the Information AgeYou’ve probably heard it countless times before, but every company is a tech company now. The nature of the information age is that if you aren’t keeping up with the latest in digital technologies, even the simplest of businesses can quickly fall behind the competition.

Accessing, analyzing and utilizing information is essential for businesses. Even if you are only running a small side hustle, the more information you have and the more you can manipulate it, the more efficient and successful your business could be.

But knowing that technology will impact your business in the future is not enough. Business owners need more than entrepreneurial flair and a good head for numbers these days, they also need to understand their corporate responsibility, their duty to their customers and, above all else, how to comply with business regulations in their industry. And they need to realize that this is happening now.

Compliance is Key

In the information age, compliance has become a huge part of business. For example, health care isn’t just about diagnosis and treatment any more, it’s also about managing data, maintaining customer privacy and implementing technological systems to improve performance.

As business gets more and more complex, so the law has to keep up. But businesses need to keep up to and a proactive approach to compliance is the best option. For example, a SOC 2 for Healthcare demonstrates an understanding of responsibility and a duty of care to the customer.

Your Customers Know You

The information age has democratized knowledge. For businesses, the information age means that consumer profiles and targeted advertising are more effective than ever before. But increased knowledge goes both ways and consumers are more likely to know about your business too.

Consumers are much more concerned with ethical business practice than ever before because the have access to the information. Companies that fail to live up to their customer’s standards in any way – socially, environmentally, economically – can stand to lose and lose quickly.

Take Responsibility

One of the most important lessons businesses can take from this age is that they have a responsibility. Taking responsibility isn’t just about apologizing and carrying on any more. As consumers have woken up to bad business practices and the law has tightened up, any company reputation ultimately comes down to their sense of responsibility. And, while rebuilding a business reputation might sound easy, it is far easier to do the work first.

All businesses have a responsibility to their consumers to provide a product worth their money but they also have social and environmental responsibilities too. No business can operate in a vacuum and understanding the impact your business has – good and bad – is essential for building a positive impact model to guide your business forward.

The information age has in many ways made doing business more challenging. However, this relatively new landscape is also providing new potential for businesses to behave properly and serve their customers even better. The world is changing and businesses need to keep up!

Fund Your Dream Company! How to Get a Business Loan Without Fail

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |how to get a business loan|Fund Your Dream Company! How to Get a Business Loan Without FailNo matter what your reason is for starting your own business, you’ve got to figure out how to fund your business. Unless you’ve got a nice nest egg and are ready to part with it, you probably need to learn how to get a business loan.

Many small businesses take out business loans to get the capital they need to start up their business and even pay for day-to-day expenses. Don’t get overwhelmed with the thought of taking a loan out.

Continue reading this article to learn about getting a loan to help you get your business off the ground and flying.

The Simple Truth About How to Get a Business Loan

Getting small business loans or other types of loan for your business doesn’t have to be daunting. After you read these tips, you can go through the process without worrying.

You don’t want to apply for a loan before the lender will approve your request. The more requests you have on your credit, the more of a risk it makes you look like.

Determine Why Your Business Needs a Loan

Lenders aren’t going to take “because I want it” as a good reason for why they should lend you money.

Before you speak to a lender, you need to have a solid reason why you need this loan. The more specific you can get about the reason why you need the loan for your business, the more likely the loan officer will see your vision for your business.

How Much of a Loan Can You Afford?

You shouldn’t decide to take out a loan for as much as possible. Before applying for the loan, you should know how much of a loan you can afford.

If your business cash flow isn’t enough to cover the loan repayment, your business and you could come into some serious problems. You should check to see when loan repayments are expected.

Some companies require that you repay them every month and others even require that you repay them every two weeks. Make sure to check the terms so you know when your payments are going to be due as well.

Create a Solid Business Plan

When you were going through the reason that you needed the money for your business, you likely had to work on your business plan. The more solid your business plan is, the more comfortable a lender will be with loaning you the money.

Depending on what you need the loan for, the loan may have different terms. Write out what you foresee happening with your business. You shouldn’t leave out any important details or numbers that will back up your plans.

What Is the Current Financial Status of Your Business?

If your business is already in operation, it will be easier to get the loan. When your business is already in operation, you have some proof that you know how to do business.

Before applying for your loan make sure that your credit history is as spotless as possible. Lenders are likely to review your personal credit history and that of your business as well.

If you look at your credit report and see there are errors or old debts that haven’t been deleted, you need to request to have them taken care of right away. If you have derogatory items on your credit report it will either cause the lender to deny you or charge you a much higher interest rate.

Besides for your credit report and score, lenders are also going to look at your business cash flow. If you have a strong cash flow then lenders feel confident that you’ll have the means to pay the business loan back according to the agreed-upon terms.

If your credit history and cash flow aren’t enough to get the loan, you should look into what collateral you have to offer. If you have something that will secure the loan, the lender is more likely to trust you with their money. If you don’t pay the money back then they get whatever it is that you put up for collateral.

Look at Your Lender Options

Don’t let loyalty keep you broke. It is important that you look at multiple lenders and see what kind of rates they will offer you.

Even if you’ve done business with a certain bank for years, you might check with online banks and see if they have better rates. Since online bank’s overheads are lower, it is easier for them to offer lower interest rates to their customers.

Prepare All Necessary Paperwork

Putting all of your necessary paperwork together can take quite a while. Make sure you don’t miss any important forms or your loan may be delayed or denied.

If you’re getting a USDA or an SBA loan then you might need to fill out paperwork for the government as well as for the lender in question.

There may be some differences in the loan application process but generally, you’re going to need to include your business plan, financial statements and also your cash flow information.

You may need to provide further documentation if what you provide is deemed to be less than satisfactory.

Learn More About Business & Leadership

Now that you know how to get a business loan, you’re good to go and ready to launch and/or grow your business. Why stop learning now?

Bookmark your favorite parts of our blog so you can come back for more great reads later.

Ensure Your Team Works Well Together

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Working as a Team|Ensure Your Team Works Well TogetherIf you are leading any kind of business, you need to be fully aware of the ways in which teams work, and make sure that those you are looking after are working together as best as they can. There are a lot of issues that might get in the way of a team working harmoniously, and it’s something that you are going to need to be aware of if you want your business to succeed in general. As long as the team is working as a unit, the work will be done much more effectively, and your business will benefit greatly from that. Let’s take a look at some of the things you might want to do to ensure that your teams are all working as well as they could be.

Lead Them Strongly

A good team requires a strong leader, so this is the first thing to make sure of if you are looking for your teams to work as well as possible together. If you feel that you have what it takes to be a strong leader, then you just need to work on the specific skills that will make you one. That will mean that you need to develop a general sense of confidence and magnetism, so that people will tend to follow you and appreciate what you say. You also have to have the required knowledge for the kind of work that you are expecting your team to carry out, so you can actually help them to do so with a great deal of understanding. A good leader is not afraid to get down and dirty in the work, but also knows how and when to delegate. It’s also vital that you can approach a basic reward and punishment scheme so that your employees know what you expect of them. As long as you can lead your teams strongly, you will know that you are probably getting the most out of them.

Share The Work

Nobody should feel as though they are carrying the weight of the team on their own shoulders. If anyone does feel this way, it certainly means that something has gone wrong somewhere, and as such you will need to find a way to make it fairer again. You need to make sure that you are sharing the work out amongst the people in the team as fairly as possible, paying special attention to anyone who might have particular skills and so on along the way. By sharing the work in this way, everyone will feel that they are treated equally, and you will be able to ensure that your team is working as well as it should. But how can you make sure that you are actually getting this right?

StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Working as a Team|Ensure Your Team Works Well TogetherTo begin with, you should look into finding a way to plan shifts out easily and fairly. If you are struggling to plan out shifts, then it can easily mean that you are going to struggle to keep it fair, as it is hard to keep track of what is going on. That’s why something like Deputy’s shift planning app can be a great boost to a team, because it means that you can easily allocate shifts in a way which is fair and open to all, and that you can even allow team members to simply switch shifts amongst themselves if they need to. Not only does that make life easier for them in general, but it ensures that the work is being shared.

It’s not just about shifts, of course. You also need to make sure that the actual workload is being shared equally. The only way to really make sure of that is to find some way to quantify the work, and then you can just look at the basic arithmetic of it. Then if anyone has a complaint, you can go through it together mathematically and see what is going on with the workload. This is important for people to feel that they are being treated fairly.

Be Personable

Teams always work together much better if they are actually friends with each other, or at least can be civil in a basic way that you would expect in an adult workplace. For this reason, it’s good for you to set the example by always be sociable and personable with the people in your teams. That will set the trend, and hopefully people will get to know each other and then be able to work together much better for it. You might even help this process along by trying to organize a few social events with your work colleagues. That can make a huge difference to how well the teams work together.

Green Business Guide How to Make Your Business More Eco-Friendly

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Green Business|Green Business Guide: How to Make Your Business More Eco-FriendlyTransforming into a green business is a low-cost, high-reward investment. The change over to eco-friendliness is a great contribution to our environment’s betterment. In the process, you’ll improve the brand image — win/win!
We all know about the three R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

How can we bring these into our businesses? What ways can we make an environmental impact beyond them? Keep reading, we’re sharing a lot of ideas to boost sustainability in business.

Start with the Three R’s

Start with what we know to be effective in lessening our impact on the environment. Let the three R’s become a philosophy within your business.

How could you incorporate and encourage the three R’s? Try:

  • Reducing hard copy materials in favor of digital items
  • Reusing shipping materials for your logistics
  • Recycling old electronics and hardware when appropriate

Look for inefficiencies and waste in your business. Else, seek environmental consulting if you feel lost. These experts provide helpful insights on how to adopt eco-friendly business policies.

Go After the Low Hanging Fruit

The low hanging fruit is the “easy wins” anyone can do without trouble. They have a big impact with little put into the effort.

Do things like:

  • Smart plugs to track and reduce energy use
  • Using energy-efficient lighting
  • Ditching single-use products (especially plastic)

Perform an audit by tracking what gets used in the business every day. Then, see what you can do to reduce or end its usage. Find those items you and employees wouldn’t have qualms doing without.

Virtual Meetings and Remote Workers

Why waste resources holding meetings when you could do them online? Virtual meetings, webinars, and video chat mean you’re not wasting time and fuel. You also won’t waste money with printed items since you’ll deliver digital versions.

You could also open up to remote employees!

Remote workers are happy workers but they also help lessen the environmental impact. That’s one less person in the daily commute. It’s also one less person using items, facilities, and energy at the business.

Factor What’s Going on Around You

Think of your environment impact outside of the business and/or warehouse.

Consider items like:

  • Energy consumption
  • Water run-off
  • Sustainable sourcing
  • Landscaping
  • Trash

You could explore smart ideas like switching to renewable energy sources like solar. Or, heat energy waste via window films and reflective exterior coating.

Be mindful of where your business waste is going, too. And, the businesses you work with and their environmental impact. Harmonize your green efforts with those following similar policies for a bigger impact.

Also, choose landscaping fit for your zone’s hardness and environment. This reduces upkeep. Smart planting can reduce energy costs inside, too.

Transform into a Green Business

Make the transition into a green business part of your over-arching strategy. Leverage the positive brand image to build stronger connections. And, tap those connections to expand operations, sales, and reach.
Plus, know you’re doing good in the World by becoming sustainable.

What ways could you introduce policies and philosophies to your business to help it grow? Check out our strategy section for more ideas and inspiration!

Market Your Business The Right Way With These Helpful Solutions

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing|Market Your Business The Right Way With These Helpful SolutionsMarketing your business is directly related to how well it is going to perform on the market, and for this reason, it should be something that you are placing a lot of focus on. However, we also know that a lot of business owners don’t see this as being the case, and then end up missing out on huge opportunities when it comes to marketing. If you are looking for ideas on how you can market your business in the best possible way, then you have come to the right place because we are going to be looking at some of the solutions that you need down below.

Keep Up With Social Media

The very first thing that you should be doing is keeping up with social media. So, if you don’t currently have an account on all of the major social media platforms, then this is something you need to correct immediately. Your company should have a business page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for this to be most effective. Once you have created the profiles, you need to ensure that they are being updated regularly with SEO content. What this means is that your content will rank well in the SERPs, maximizing the number of people who will see your business when they search for certain keywords and terms.

As well as this though, keeping up with your social media is important to your clients as it lets them know what is going on in your business at any given time, and makes them feel as though they have a closer relationship with you. Using tools like Live is a great way to establish this connection, and being sure to reply to direct messages is always going to go a long way. As long as there is something fresh on your page every day or every few days at the bare minimum, this is going to drive your marketing campaign forward.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing|Market Your Business The Right Way With These Helpful SolutionsTry Something Different

Something else that you should consider is trying something different. So, there are some of the basic marketing techniques that are employed by almost every business across all industries, and that is because they are effective. We are not saying that you should ditch these marketing methods as they are clearly providing you results, but while you are doing this, you should also be trying something new on the side. For example, video production is something that you can hire an external company to help you with, which will help you create a video for the purpose of marketing your business. This is an excellent way to do something that not all companies do, and show potential clients why they should choose you over your competition. It gives a more personal feel than a post on your website or a leaflet in the mail.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see that if you market your business the right way like with the solutions above, you are going to see more customers in no time.