Always make sure you review your infrastructure from time to time, especially when there’s a change to your business

 

Getting your startup off the ground is a process that’s both exciting and terrifying. As we now live in a tech-driven society, there’s much to consider when it comes to your tech infrastructure. Although all businesses have their unique needs, following these essential steps can give you a headstart.

Choose your hardware carefully

Always start with your hardware and make sure you think further ahead than simply choosing between Apple and Windows. Your business is likely to need a good server, and if you’re not sure what size you need, it’s time to start talking to the professionals.

If you’re planning on using computer workstations and smartphones for each of your staff members, make sure you choose a number that matches that of the team you’re planning to hire.

Alternatively, you could focus on buying a small number and then implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. In addition to keeping your costs low, BYOD helps you scale your business with a flexibility that avoids wasting money.
Should using a BYOD policy appeal to you, decide who’s going to take control of your employees’ data usage and consider SIM Only Plans with unlimited data to avoid additional costs.

Consider various mobile platforms

One of the most significant advantages of creating a startup in the modern world is that remote working is now the norm. Your employees can tweak projects while they’re on the move, stay in touch while they’re away at conferences, and they can work from home if you need them to.

Also Read: With infrastructure and branding advantage, UberEats is on its way to be the world leader in online food delivery

If you’re going to take a flexible approach to the way your employees work, you need to consider the mobile platforms available. Are you going to make sure they all have the same type of smartphone?

Or perhaps there’s a tablet you prefer? Whatever the answer is, start considering whether you want to use 4G or if you’d like to turn to 5G. As many smartphone manufacturers are focusing on support for 5G, choosing the latter means you’re ready for whatever the future throws at you. 

Focus on cloud storage options

Using cloud storage is an absolute must for most businesses. Hardware failures do happen, and when they’re so severe that you can no longer recover the content, you risk losing a lot of business. 

One way to safeguard yourself against hardware failures is to use cloud storage. Adding essential business data to the cloud means you can access it during adverse weather events too. With easy access, you don’t need to worry about your startup losing out on money or clients, as all the information you need is ready for you to access.

Using cloud storage also makes it easier for your team to work together when they’re not in the same location. But as you may have guessed, the cloud comes with security risks.

As a result, you need to decide which type of staff will enjoy various types of access and create a cybersecurity defence plan. Make sure you set a date for reviewing your defence plan too, as it will need to evolve alongside your business.

Outline how you’ll communicate

Excellent communication is the cornerstone of any business. In addition to knowing who they should report to, your employees need to know how to do so. If you’re dealing with confidential information, they may also need to know where they can talk about some issues. Doing this is essential for remaining legally compliant too.

Take a look at all your options. This could include encrypted emails for anything sensitive, Whatsapp groups for certain projects, and apps such as Slack for collaborative work.

If you’re going to rely on conference calls, decide what type of software you’ll use.

When choosing between different software packages, look at where they’re usable. Always make sure you think outside of PCs and laptops, as your employees and clients may be expecting to use their phones too.

Also Read: Underdeveloped payment infrastructure holding e-commerce in Indonesia&

If you’re using a service provider, ask them when their customer service centres are open. Additionally, ask what their response times are. It’s essential that you pick an organisation that’s readily available when you need its assistance. Otherwise, you may find that you’re left without your usual mode of communication, which then results in business downtime. 

Decide who can access what

During the earlier phases of establishing your startup, you may not need to create an information access plan. As time goes on and roles in your business become more defined, it’s necessary to decide who can access what.

A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether a particular type of employee needs to be able to access confidential information in order to do their job well. Additionally, you could ask whether they can use that information to their advantage in the workplace. If the answer to either of those questions is ‘no’, you need to find a company that can help you restrict access.

Restricting access to information isn’t about creating a hierarchy. It is about reducing the likelihood of data breaches and helping you comply with your state’s legislation. Over time, it’s also an assurance for your clients who may look at confidentiality as a way of choosing between you and a competitor. 

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Do you already have an editorial calendar for your content marketing strategy?

The creation of content requires planning based on objectives. Therefore it is vital that your business has a document in which you have developed the path that you will follow.

If you still think that you do not need an editorial calendar, or do not know its relevance to your business, I will make you comprehend why you should think otherwise.

The editorial calendar is the skeleton and one of the most relevant steps of the content marketing strategy that you can use for your business.

Why your business should have a publishing calendar

Surely you think that you want more, that this is not enough to convince you. Here are some strong reasons why your company needs to have an editorial calendar.

1. Keeps you informed of what you are publishing

An editorial calendar allows you to know at all times the topics that publish every day.

It will help you maintain balance and quality in all your posts and publications, whether in a blog or on social networks.

If you have a well-organised and defined calendar, you will improve and simplify your resources. All this means that the people in charge of creating the content can work with more foresight and which can result in the higher quality of the content.

2. Avoid publishing at the wrong time

Before making the editorial calendar, you must recognise those important dates and times to publish.

Knowing the time when there is a more significant impact on your business will allow you to avoid posts that receive few interactions and remain in oblivion. You must bear in mind that not every day or the same hours work the same for all businesses.

Once you identify those important dates, place the content in advance in the editorial calendar. Working with margin time will be a great help. Once the vital moment arrives, you will have a resource of great scope and quality.

3. Find the balance

With a publishing calendar, you will know which platform to use the most. The different networks have different policies, and you should adapt to this while making your posts.

Establish the channels for which you are going to publish each content. For example, some platforms prefer text, while others prefer images and videos much better.

4. It facilitates corrections and adjustments

A well-designed editorial calendar will not allow low-quality content to be released. Having a forecast of all your publications includes enough time for review. This leads to an error or unfit element being removed or reformed in time.

5. Proper targeting

If there is one thing that you can achieve with your editorial calendar, it is to order to which each post is directed to specific people. If you do not have a plan for your content marketing strategy, it is easy to end up talking about similar topics and therefore not being able to diversify your content. This may cause part of your audience to end up abandoning you.

Surely, you are now convinced of the importance of having an editorial calendar for your business; a tool that allows you to think in the long term through the organization.

What data should you include in your editorial calendar?

I just told you about the benefits that an editorial calendar can bring to your company. Maybe now you ask yourself: What should I include in it? I do not want you to have any doubts. Therefore I will talk to you about what you should indicate in this document:

Frequency of publication

The best way to structure everything you are going to communicate is to add the contents you are going to publish for weeks. It includes each one of the social networks or blogs, as well as the time and day in which you are going to do it. The pace of publication in social networks is not the same in all, so it is important that you adapt your content to each of them.

Remember that the better you study everything you put on your calendar, the greater the scope and impact it will have. Therefore, before choosing hours or dates at random, you must perform an analysis of the activity of your target audience. This will tell you during which slots you can get the most impact on your audience.

Author

In most cases, different people are responsible for publishing posts or using social networks. Indicates who will do each content and also in what network or blog will be published. It will benefit not only your business but also the publishers themselves and the quality of what is published.

Social networks

Specifies in which social network or blog each content will be published. Remember that not on all platforms will you be able or will it be convenient to make the same post. It may even be convenient to change the format of one network to another.

As a tip, I will tell you that not all social networks work the same for the same business. Do not think that being in all possible social networks is synonymous with success.

Choose and observe well which are better suited to what you want to communicate and, above all, through which you better meet the needs of your audience. If you have a presence on different social networks, some applications can make your life easier when publishing contents.

Titles

The headline of any publication is the most important and what encourages the reader to continue reading. That is why many times, it can be a headache to choose the most appropriate title. Remember that you must put a lot of effort into creating a title that becomes viral and with which you get more visits and visibility.

Keywords

For a content strategy to be successful, a vital factor is knowing the keywords with which your business is identified. In the case of each content you post, it happens the same. Find those words that will serve to position and give greater visibility to any of your publications. Also, this will guide you once the moment of creation arrives.

Call to action

Any text that you include in a blog or social network must have memorable phrases. I’m talking about those “call to action” elements that will cause your followers to interact more easily with your content.

Audiovisual contents

Today the power of images and videos is huge. Include in your document everything you want besides the text: banners, video clips, infographics, ebooks, podcasts, etc.

Now you have enough reasons why your business should have an editorial calendar, and you also know what you should include in it.

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Internet marketing impacts a business in several important ways, and the right use of it can get your business at the top

 

Internet marketing refers to the process of promoting your business or brand and the products or services using different marketing activities that are conducted online.

Nowadays, the importance of internet marketing services is rapidly increasing around the world. Businesses are now shifting from mass marketing to internet marketing as they want a more personalised, effective and low-communication with their targeted audiences.

There is a huge number of benefits of internet marketing advantages so that people who want to start an online business can get a clearer image of what they are getting into.

Reach potential customers globally

To reach potential customers around the world is the primary and foremost benefit of internet marketing, you can deliver your products and services with the help of it.

With proper use of SEO techniques, you can reach the maximum number of people and engage them on your website.

Honestly, I think that there are many internet marketing benefits, but this particular one acts as a medium with which you can secure the regions beyond your physical reach, securing customers and increasing engagement from all across the world.

Build a long-lasting relationship with your customers

In my opinion internet marketing allows a business to establish long term relationships with the customers. As long as a business has an online presence, they will remain in touch with their customers, and their customers can easily approach them whenever they want to.

Internet marketing benefits them in a way that whenever a business has some new information that it wants to convey to the customers, it can easily do so by just emailing them. Old marketing techniques suggested to distribute pamphlets and visiting cards to the customers, but usually, a customer misplaces them during the event. He or she might not even remember your business until they want to make another purchase.

Honestly, internet marketing has changed, you can collect the e-mail addresses of your customers and you can contact them easily. You can easily convey them the new information or the new packages and offers you have in store. The good news is to build a long-lasting and a more engaging relationship with your customers.

Ease of communication

Communicating with the customers was never much easy as it is today. Right? There are now several ways through which a firm having an online presence can communicate with its customers quite easily.

To be very honest the most straightforward way of communicating with anyone is through the internet, no matter where the other person is, you can easily contact them. This is one of the internet marketing benefits which have made the lives of businesses way easier and simpler than before.

Also Read: Specific digital marketing strategy considerations for Hong Kong

There are firms that provide small business marketing services and local business marketing services to firms that do not have a big budget but still want to communicate their message to customers all over the world.

Use of social media in internet marketing

Social media is a huge part of internet marketing, right? Well, yes. People now are providing marketing services through this particular medium. Internet marketing has not only created ease for business but has also created business opportunities for people even on social media.

There are many firms that want to promote themselves and even have the budget to do so, but they don’t know how to. You can now provide local and small businesses with local business marketing services and small business marketing services by just realising them the importance of internet marketing.

All you need to do is to build up an audience on social media, which is not difficult these days. Creating a page with numerous likes or an account with millions of followers is not a big deal if you know how to capture the audience. Providing businesses with internet marketing services are the next big thing that is now possible with social media.

Internet marketing is cost-effective

Making sure that your marketing campaigns don’t cost you a fortune is significant. Well, with the increase in the competition, you have to make sure that you reach a maximum number of potential customers within the limited budget you have.

There are numerous advantages of Internet marketing which are awesome out of which one is that it is cost-effective and is way cheaper than television ads or print media ads. Internet marketing has a wider reach than other advertising mediums, you can reach your customer in no time, without worrying about any additional cost or hassle.

People are introducing latest internet marketing services to know that this particular medium is very much affordable and less time consuming than other possible mediums. Let’s say that you want to advertise your latest product or service and want a maximum number of people to know about it.

Also Read:  10 digital marketing strategies for startups

For this you might have to print out brochures or would have to send out emails, this would not take out a lot of your time but also a considerable amount from your marketing budget. You’d have to print them out, deliver them and then make sure that they reach the respective people on time.

On the contrary, you’d just have to send out e-mails carrying the same information and they can even be personalized, or you can post the information on social media and save yourself from all the efforts of printing and posting.

A personalised platform for advertising and communication

Personalisation is another benefit of internet marketing. It can boost up your sales and can retain your existing customers.

Through this platform, you can advertise your products on a more personalised level, keeping in mind the target audiences. You can also personalise the communication between you and your customers.

Capture audiences demographically

To be very honest mass marketing is the reason due to which 90 per cent of the customers that visit your site do not become your regular customers. Through internet marketing service or internet marketing business, you can easily target an audience demographically.

It is creating a more developed strategy to acquire more valuable clients. It is proven with research that you can get eight times more customers if you advertise on custom-based strategies.

In other words, internet marketing allows you to target your customers specifically, whom you think is more likely to make a purchase. Rather than focusing on the mass itself, internet marketing lets you focus on more suitable or potential customers.

Businesses can now multitask with internet marketing

Having an online presence is very important for businesses nowadays, not because they have to but because if they don’t, they’ll miss out on a lot of benefits it comes along with.

Multitasking is yet another benefit of internet marketing which is awesome; you can deal now with numerous customers simultaneously. It works if you have a well-designed user-friendly website, a website designed so finely that it can run on any device.

Even with a large of transactions taking place from all over the world, you can still make sure that your other clients are being provided with the best services. This will not only provide a satisfactory service to the customers but will also give them the best shopping experience.

Internet marketing provides measurable results for future changes

Providing small business marketing services or even local business marketing services is of no use if you cannot even measure the results of your activities.

This is where one realises the importance of internet marketing, and you can now easily measure the number of customers you have gained or even engaged. This aspect of having the ability to measure and track results is rarely found in any traditional marketing technique.

There are different tools available online which can perform this task for you; these tools can easily track the results of the marketing activities which were done.

Tracking results is a way you get to know that ho effective your marketing campaign was or to what extent it worked. If you don’t know the results, you’ll never be able to make changes and have better results. These benefits of tracking and measuring results are for every business that wants to make their marketing activities more effective.

Internet marketing is more valuable, faster and engaging

Internet marketing is more valuable, faster and engaging than anything else to make customers buy your products and services. For this, you can create ads using social media, which are not only promoting the product but is also entertaining. Anything can go viral these days as long as people like it, you need to develop such ads for your campaigns which are innovative.

People have different options on social media from liking the post, to commenting on it or sharing it. You can communicate your message through this medium faster and engage more valuable customers through it. Out of many advantages of internet marketing, this is for the ones who are innovative and creative.

Data can be easily collected without any hassle

Collecting data from traditional marketing techniques was very difficult. Engaging the customers in long talks was boring as well as time taking.

Basically, transactions through the internet allow you to collect data from the customer, which is pretty good.  Mostly, like age, gender, how they got to your site, what sites they visited after closing your site. This information is very important for a business as it can help them in analysing the behaviour of the customer. There are different tools online that can also do the job. Amazing, right?

Most businesses use this information to personalise the ads or promotions viewed by those customers. So that they can grab their attention in a better and more effective way. Top Marketing Companies provide small business marketing services or local business marketing services nowadays.

24/7 Marketing is now possible through the internet

you can advertise your business for 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Moreover, you won’t have to worry about giving wages for extra shifts of the staff or about spending extra time on the store.

Firms proving local business marketing services charge them a lot for just marketing in the local region, while now you won’t have to worry about it. Out of many internet marketing benefits, one is that you don’t have to worry about time variations across the world, no matter where your customer is, they can easily make a purchase with worrying about closing hours of the store.

Whenever one might open their computer, there is a high chance of them seeing your marketing campaign online. The importance of internet marketing is a lot for businesses these days and can make your business reach the top.

Automate your marketing tasks

We have discussed many advantages of internet marketing; automated marketing tasks is the last one on our list of benefits. Internet marketing introduced automated marketing, which just a click away from the user.

Also Read: 7 valuable ways to attract new investors through a digital medium

You can automate the e-mails being sent to your customers, or you can use AdRoll for aggressively targeting your existing customer base. Basically, with the help of internet marketing and the use of the right tools, you can automate your marketing campaigns.

These benefits are discussed for businesses that have a limited budget, time, labour or physical existence. They can improve not only workplace performance but also peace of mind.

Final thought

If you have an offline business, you should consider moving it online as internet marketing can take it to the next level.

For this, you must have a grip on digital marketing and should know about the advantages.

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Many startup founders treat their venture like an egg: if this one fails, they’ll go hatch another

There are many challenges in translating technology into business. These include uncertainty in demand from the market, finding right people to deal with, getting your first client (most potential clients are reluctant to be a guinea pig), and finding enough of a business incentive to justify the risk.

There’s also often a lack of hard data (or track record) to prove the benefit of a new solution. And for customers, its benefit should exceed its transfer cost from whatever existing platform or technology they are using currently.

We need only look at “successful” technology businesses that have good technology but are still bleeding money to see the challenges inherent: Uber, Amazon, and a handful of other tech wunderkinds.

Biggest nightmare: doubting founder commitment

The founder’s uncertainty around technology and commercialization is often a problem, but as an investor there’s something else that keeps me up at night.

Whenever I meet with new technologies or new types of business, I am not sure whether these founders are fully committed to its execution, success and vision. This comes back to point two from above: lack of commitment.

Also read: Meet the VC: Marvelstone CEO Joel Ko on why every founder should experience failure

Many startup founders seem to be treating their venture like just one of many possible eggs: if this one fails, they’ll go hatch another. (Or maybe they’re even working on more than one startup at once. Unless they’re Jack Dorsey, they should probably not be doing this.)

Another risk I see all too often is a glaring lack of information about competing technologies and alternatives on the part of the founding team. Not knowing your market and competitors inside out when raising money from investors is not going to inspire confidence. You should be committed to knowing your customer and competitors of your technology.

All of these factors and more must be considered if a new technology business wants to have a chance at overcoming challenges and risks inherent in bringing a new solution to the market. But, without doubt, commitment is the most important.

Don’t try to change his or her mindset

There are a few key mindset shifts required for successful venture creation – for both founders and investors. It’s very difficult to change key mindsets required for successful venture creation.

Founders and investors are coming to the table from different perspectives. Nevertheless, the first starting point will be to enhance their understanding of each other, with the working assumption that I cannot change him or her.

If you cannot sense the commitment, in the beginning, it is unlikely to come later. Mutual agreement and beneficial policy between parties are vital. Relentless persistence to succeed and patience during the hard times is key.

While it mostly fails to translate technology into viable businesses (just look at the scientist Nikola Tesla, who died in 1943 almost penniless), it’s easier to have a chance at succeeding if you know how to reduce the downside (risks such as lack of commitment) and maximise upside (mutual understanding, patience, etc.).

As an investor, these are some of the challenges I see. Of course, it’s always wonderful when a breakthrough happens and a new technology goes hand-in-hand with a solid business and a committed founder.

More time is usually required than expected or planned for in the completion and commercialization of new technology. So we should be patient. If you can do all of that and filter potential investments for high commitment levels, I’m sure we will enjoy many more restful nights as investors.

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The stronger your web host is in the following areas, the better they will be able to serve your business.

If you own or help run a business, web hosting may not be the first consideration that comes to the mind. However, having the right web host is essential to getting the most out of your business’s online activities.

The 6 web-hosting factors listed in this article affect everything from your business website performance in search results to how much your customers enjoy using your site.

1. Server uptime

Server uptime affects how much of the time your site is up (that is, online and accessible to visitors) versus down (that is, offline and inaccessible to visitors). It is usually expressed as a percentage; for example, if the server supporting your website has an uptime percentage of 99.9 per cent, that means that your website will be down 0.1% of the time.

As covered by Jennifer Kyrnin on LifeWire.com, it is important to think about how much downtime will cost your business. For instance, a server with 99% uptime might sound solid, but it will actually be down over three days per year. Those are three days of potentially lost sales. Kyrnin recommends choosing a web host with a minimum uptime guarantee of 99 per cent.

2. Webpage speed

Webpage speed is another vital factor when choosing a web host. Every second that your business’s site takes to load is a second that a customer can potentially get bored and leave.

If the delays last particularly long, customers may even assume your website is broken and never return. Some of this comes down to how fast your visitors’ internet connections are, but there is a factor your web host can control: how quickly their server responds to visitors and loads the pages they request.

Generally speaking, the type of web hosting plan you choose will have a big effect on how quickly your webpages load. A shared hosting plan—in which your site shares hardware with other sites—will have the slowest speeds. The next fastest is a VPS, or virtual private server, plan.

The fastest type of plan is a dedicated hosting plan, in which your business has the use of a server all to itself.

3. Website security

Web hosting security is critical for both maintaining your customers’ trust and keeping your business’s online presence up and running. As with webpage speed, generally speaking, a shared hosting plan will perform the worst in this area. A VPS plan will be a bit better in terms of security, and a dedicated plan will have the best security.

Another factor is the type of security certificate provided by your web host. The top tier of the security certificate is an SSL certificate. These come in many varieties, so make sure your web host provides the certificate type that fits your needs.

4. Search engine ranking performance

Your business’s performance in search engine rankings will help determine how easily customers can find it. Your web host will play a big role here. For instance, according to Google, their searches rely not only on the relevance of your website. Google searches also take into account the usability of a website’s pages.

A site that delivers fast loading times will generally outrank one that does not, all else being equal. The same goes for security: The more secure site may win in a tie. Finally, the Search Engine Journal highlights server uptime as a critical factor in search engine rankings. If your site is down often, it may plummet in the rankings.

5. Data server location

The location of your web host’s data servers is another important consideration. In general, the closer the server is to the customers you hope to attract, the better it will be for your business.

For example, if all other factors are equal, a business whose customers primarily live in Virginia will likely receive better performance from a server located on the East Coast than one located in California or India.

6. DNS considerations

Finally, the domain name system (DNS) also plays a role in how your business’s website performs. The domain name is essentially the name of your website, and it is tied to your website’s IP address.

You can purchase DNS hosting as a standalone service for your site. Alternatively, many web hosts provide DNS hosting along with their web-hosting services.

The difference is that web hosting involves storing all of the data your business’s website needs to remain up and running. DNS hosting allows visitors to connect to that website. Having a robust DNS service is vital to keeping your business usable for visitors.

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As demand increases, more merchants will be looking towards solutions that are convenient, cost-effective, secure, and accessible by large amounts of people

Blockchain has experienced a decrease in hype recently as the ICO bubble has officially burst and the market has slowed down. While likely temporary, entrepreneurs and companies have taken the opportunity to focus in on building and shipping products that can be instantly used.

One of the most compelling and obvious applications of cryptocurrencies are for daily transactions, both online and offline. While sceptics might argue everyday use of cryptocurrency brings risks such as volatility in prices, security concerns, and lack of usability, the data proves otherwise. 

In Japan alone, over 10,000 retailers have started to accept bitcoin. These retailers include everyone from local diners to Rakuten, one of Japan’s leading companies with over  US$7 billion in revenue in 2016. 

On a global scale, retailers such as Overstock.com, Shopify, Intuit, Expedia, and Virgin Airlines have already started to accept bitcoin as a payment option. Even Deloitte announced earlier this week that they are testing employees paying for lunch using cryptocurrency. 

In total, there are thousands of retailers either accepting cryptocurrencies or exploring ways to integrate them into their payment options. 

Validation for cryptocurrency payment solutions

In Asia, consumers and businesses already accept various forms of digital payments, touchless payments, and digital money such as WeChat Pay. The integration of crypto payments would make sense as the user experience would be nearly identical to current e-payment methods, and crypto users continue to grow in most major Asian markets. 

Naturally, there is still an education gap that needs to be solved, but as time passes, more and more people are becoming familiar and comfortable with cryptocurrencies, especially beyond speculative trading. The benefits of crypto payments include convenience, discretion, lower fees, and in some cases, the elimination of chargebacks. 

One company, PumaPay, was the first company to introduce fully decentralised subscription payments on the blockchain and focuses on offering the flexibility and ease of use of credit cards with the advantages of blockchain. To date, their payment solution for merchants has attracted the likes of Wix.com, FashionTV, PornHub, Rent24, Ubex, and over 100 other companies. 

You might be wondering how these transactions work. Put, PumaPay has a payment protocol that inverses the mechanics of the transaction and allows merchants to “pull” funds from customers wallets based on pre-approved terms. This means cryptocurrency can be used in real-time for transactions, eliminating chargebacks and fees besides what is needed to push the transaction on the Ethereum blockchain. 

This allows the creation of billing mechanisms that are very common in people’s daily lives but were not possible on the blockchain previously. The outcome means businesses can now easily integrate cryptocurrencies into their payment systems. 

Demand for crypto payments in distressed environments

Recently, Hong Kong protestors have made a vocal plea for merchants to start accepting cryptocurrency payments to help address the uncertainty being felt. As a result, malls and various retailers have begun to integrate cryptocurrencies. 

Around the world, similar tensions have led to an increase in usage and demand for retailers to offer this option. In Argentina, the government re-established capital controls in September 2018, limiting the number of Pesos a person could sell on the open market. This has caused a strong movement of crypto advocates who understand how such usage can be a hedge against macro-political and economic events.

As this demand increases, more merchants will be looking towards solutions that are convenient, cost-effective, secure, and accessible by large amounts of people. The benefit of cryptocurrencies is that they check all of these boxes and are available with an inclusionary rather than an exclusive approach.

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If you think incompetence is a problem, now is the time to think again

Incompetence is on fire, especially in global politics. It’s one of those trends to be bullish on. That’s here to stay. You know, like blockchain and artificial intelligence and design thinking and agile. Disrupt or be disrupted. You know what I mean. Here’s a list of the top ten reasons why you should champion the incompetent:

1. They won’t call your bluff, to avoid you calling theirs. Finally, peace of mind if you suffer from imposter syndrome. Especially relevant for us millennials.

2. They will never make you feel inadequate. In an age of hyper-competition, this will soothe your soul. Nothing reveals your own abilities more clearly than looking after cleaning up someone else’s mess.

3. They will humble you with their entitlement. This isn’t great at first, but it helps you with your own self-development in the long run.

4. They find seemingly easy solutions to problems because they aren’t privy to realities in their industry or field of, um, expertise. This looks especially good with the execs. You know, out of the box thinking and all!

5. They will make you regret every single minute and dollar you wasted on them, thus encouraging the betterment of your time management and financial discipline in future.

6. They will make you look competent. Great feeling. It allows you to dissociate from all those incompetent people around you.

7. They encourage your colleagues to focus on other, personal aspects of their lives in order to minimise frustration, which may lead to increased work-life balance for the rest of their team.

8. They are great with the media. If you ever wondered how to ‘dumb down’ something so more people could understand it, you will find the best way to achieve this is not knowing anything about the matter in the first place.

9. Because they consistently fail to deliver, they will never notice their own failures or have to endure the tough emotions surrounding it. Emotions are really contagious so this spares you from falling into the trap of self-doubt.

10. They are easily able to tell their story and influence because they don’t have to worry about substance. Anything will inspire them to feel special and gifted, and relay this to the world. They are the ultimate motivational role-models. Just like the wonderful Lotus flower, which also grows on mud. Sh** is an impeccable fertiliser. And if that doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will.

11. They talk a good game because they prefer speech over actually attempting or doing something.

I think I overshot… time to conclude:

Incompetence makes us all better. It makes the world a better place. We need it to advance humanity. Incompetence is the new competence in so many important ways. Please take a moment to express your gratitude for the invaluable contributions incompetence has made over the course of your life.

If you want to make incompetence the hero theme of your next event or keynote, there truly are many promising options for you to deliberate. But you might as well look no further and book the ultimate one right here. You can even hire me to give you more great advice off the stage. It might also lead to something great.

Please don’t tag the people this reminds you of. You never know, the feeling may be mutual.

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This article was originally published on LinkedIn

Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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With its online travel agency, ride-hailing services, and corporate fleet services, Oway is one of the leading names in the local tech ecosystem

Looking at the services that Oway is offering, it is hard not to compare the Myanmar-based startup with its regional competitors Grab and gojek.

Starting off an as online travel agency, which was the first in the nation, the startup expanded its offerings to include ride-hailing and corporate fleet services.

Apart from that, Oway also counted Northstar Group, one of the early investors in gojek, as one of its backers.

Speaking to e27 over the phone, Oway CEO Alok Kumar even explains how Oway has also implemented the super app concept ahead of gojek and Grab. But he sees that their move has not been “well-discovered” since the startup has been focussing on the Myanmar market.

“We are constantly looking at options to upload more and more services and products onto the platform, but we have to be cautious with the timing of the market, whether they are ready for those services or not. One big challenge that we have is the capability and investment balancing act.”

Myanmar itself is considered as one of the emerging markets of Southeast Asia. Having been closing itself from the international world for years, in 2012 the country began to open itself up, marked by the entrance of foreign telco companies such as Ooredoo and Telenor into the country.

Also Read: iMyanmarHouse appoints Flymya’s ex-COO Grace Ei Thwe Aung as General Manager

Operating a tech startup in such market certainly comes with its own unique challenges. A Telenor report in 2018 mentioned underdeveloped digital infrastructure and low digital literacy rate as some of the challenges; the government itself has responded by establishing the Digital Economy Development Committee (DEDC).

But Oway manages to come out as a top player in this market. In terms of ride-hailing services, the company is the biggest in Myanmar due to its physical presence. It is also the largest fleet service provider in the country at the moment.

What is the secret sauce of taking over this promising new market? Kumar reveals the secret to e27.

Within Myanmar

The story of Oway began when chairman and co-founder Nay Aung returned to Myanmar from the US in 2013. Having worked in tech giants such as Google, he set up an online travel agency (OTA) business in 2014.

Back then telco penetration in the country was quite low, with only seven to eight per cent of the population having access to it.

But Nay Aung saw an opportunity coming his way when the telco licenses were being given to Telenor and Ooredoo, which fundamentally meant that the market will leapfrog in digital services and online biz.

Also Read: ShweProperty raises US$3M in fresh funding as 500 Startups makes an entry into Myanmar

The business was eventually expanded into two new verticals: ride-hailing (Oway Ride) and corporate fleet services (Oway Fleet).

Kumar explains that there are three important milestones that the company has made: Having the largest inventory of airlines and hotels in international and domestic destinations in its platform; pioneering and inventing a new business model in the ride-hailing space; as well as the partnership with Telenor and Wave Money.

These milestones are playing a crucial role in Oway’s strategy in winning the market, which displays a behaviour that is distinctive to an emerging market.

“What we are looking at in Myanmar today is a behavioural shift from the physical to digital. Myanmar was a closed economy and there is already a really strong behaviour existing in the market. People still have a certain higher level of trust … on purchasing with travel agents they know well,” Kumar begins.

This is why the startup invests heavily in making sure that the behavioural shift happens successfully.

“We want people to move and interact with us online because of three core reasons: We bring widest choices online, conveniences and ease of transaction that is not limited to store operation hours, and price value.”

Also Read: Cambodia’s Meal Temple Group invests in Myanmar’s food delivery startup Freshgora

The partnerships that Oway has fostered enable them to make these lucrative offerings for their customers. For example, its partnership with local digital payments provider Wave Money enables Oway Fleet drivers to digitally process any advance payments which include tolls, maintenance, and repair costs.

Oway is also not beyond offering discounts to customers of its OTA, a practice that remains common among fast-growing tech startups.

Beyond Myanmar

 

Since its inception, Oway has raised over US$14.7 million from investors such as Northstar Group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Openspace Ventures.

The company says it is “on track” to raise its Series E funding round, which is aimed to further improve its existing verticals and operations.

In Southeast Asia, Grab has long expanded its business beyond its home country with massive investment plans in markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam.

Its rival gojek has also begun to expand its presence beyond Indonesia by entering Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and soon Malaysia.

When asked if the region is going to see Oway launching its services in countries other than Myanmar, Kumar reveals that the company is actually embracing the idea.

“It is in our wishlist and we are constantly evaluating options. But this is currently in the evaluation phase.”

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Image Credit: Oway

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To make sure that we produce enough food for a growing population, we need to optimise our farming industry, and this is where IoT comes in

The current technologies are changing the world around us. If you are not convinced, take a look at self-driving cars and the application of artificial intelligence. However, do you think that internet-of-things (IoT) can have the same impact on our farming sector?

In this article, we will try to answer the above question. But, before we start, we first need to understand the problem that our farming industry is going through. Currently, we are growing food more than we need. But, this doesn’t mean that we are safe in future.

Our population can easily shoot to 9.9 billion by 2050. To make sure that we produce enough food, we need to optimise our farming industry, and this is where IoT comes in. It is also estimated that by 2050, over 2 billion smart agro-sensors will be used. This will improve agriculture by more than 2% while reducing risks and use of water by 7% per acre.

IoT can also help farmers to help deal with thousands of unforeseen circumstances such as diverse weather conditions. It can also help them understand what they are doing wrong and improve their farming practices. But, how it can be done? Let’s explore it in depth below.

1. Precision Farming

Currently, the agriculture sector has to go through a lot of risks. It can range from not knowing when the rains will happen to the lack of knowledge for identifying bad soil conditions.

These uncertainties are alarming. However, IoT can change how the parameters can be controlled, all thanks to the agro-sensors. The ago-sensors can collect data which is both accurate and real-time. By doing so, the farmers can make decisions based on the collected data and minimise the risk associated with it.

2. Big Data

When we speak of agro-sensors, we also indirectly speak of big data. In the year 2014 alone, agricultural land has access to 20 million data points. However, the number can easily jump to 4 billion data points by the year 2050.

So, what does that mean for the farming sector? This means that have more information regarding the different aspects such as pest infestations, soil quality, storage, and so on. In short, the huge amount of data will open doors to a better understanding of how things work, and also help researchers innovate and improve the overall farming sector.

That’s why you will find many IoT development companies that are already working on different solutions surrounding farming.

Also read: More details emerge on early stage funding round for Indonesian agritech startup Sayurbox

3. Agricultural Drones

Until now, drones have been used for surveillance, saving people’s lives during disasters and so on. Aerial drones can also be used to improve the agricultural sector. Yes, you read it right.

Agricultural drones open up new opportunities for the farmers to monitor crop and other important parameters such as health assessment, planning and so on. By using drones, the farmer can save time and use it in finding new strategies to combat farming issues.

Things like soil health and weather forecast can also be monitored using agricultural drones. All of this gives the farmer an eagle-eye view of their farms. In short, they are pretty useful and hold the key to revolutionise the farming sector.

4. Remote control

Farms are huge, and they require multiple workers to be maintained carefully. However, with the use of IoT, it will be possible for the farmers to take control of their farms remotely.

There are many problems such as soil dryness, low water presence, etc. All these problems bring huge losses if not fixed early. With IoT and the smart tools, the farmers will know what needs to be done when a problem occurs. This type of technology is known as “middleware technology.” Also, the apps that are created for showing the information are always available on the mobile application.

Conclusion

IoT can change and revolutionise the farming sector. Until now, there was no way for farmers to collect data and act upon it, but with IoT, they will have an eagle eye view on their farms.

All this is only possible due to the new technologies that we have. It is a combination of all of them, where IoT plays a core role. The biggest hurdle is to educate farmers about their benefits and equip them with the required tools. So, what do you think about IoT’s impact on the farming sector? Comment below and let us know.

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e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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The public bank’s VC arm signs MoU with the P2P lending fintech for the agriculture sector to support microloans

Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI), the corporate venture capital of Bank Mandiri Indonesia, announces that it has led the US$1 million Pre-Series A funding for agriculture-focussed P2P lending startup Crowde, as reported by DailySocial. Along with the funding, Mandiri also participates as an institutional lender for credit loans through Crowde for US$7.1 million.

CEO MCI Eddi Danusaputro said that the VC chose to invest in Crowde because it fits what the bank was looking for as well as its mission statement. Mandiri also revealed that it currently aims to increase the productivity in credit loans for SMEs, especially the credit microloan.

Crowde was deemed feasible because it focusses on productive sectors such as agriculture, fishery, and commerce.

MCI also confirms that it will soon lead to another funding in a company that also focusses on financial management.

Also Read: Aiming to add 4 new startups, Mandiri Capital Indonesia targets insurtech, investment management sectors

“We tend to back startups in Series A, but we made an exception for Crowde because of its capacity in fulfilling Mandiri’s needs,” Danusaputro added.

Crowde CEO Yohanes Sugihtononugroho said that Crowde will use the funding to build the farmer-supporting technology as the company believes that there is not much segmentation in the agriculture-related technology in the country.

“Our focus will remain to reach to more farmers by building technology that can be used by Indonesian farmers,” said Sugihtononugroho.

The Pre-Series A funding round of Crowde is still ongoing as the company said it still looks for other strategic investors to come aboard. The number of funding it seeks to raise remains undisclosed.

Mandiri’s credit loan to Crowde will allow the company to reference a potential creditor to join the selection process and to determine the loan for each potential creditor.

Also Read: Mandiri Capital Indonesia prepares fresh funds for 4 startups this year

Based on the selection process, Mandiri will process the credit loan application with a maximum accessible platform of US$14,000.

Up until August 2019, Mandiri reportedly has issued a micro-credit loan for US$1.7 billion to Indonesian SMEs. Crowde, on the other hand, has backed almost 17,000 low and middle-class farmers in Java, Sumatera, and Eastern Indonesia by issuing US$6.4 million in credit loans.

Crowde’s previous investors include Gree Ventures, Crevisse Ventures, and “local, prominent” angel investors.

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Image Credit: Colin Watts on Unsplash

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