Global Enablement

With the rapid advance of technology, businesses are forced to adapt and embrace digital as their own, or to slowly and surely face their demise. Unfortunately, many of those who dived right in did so without a clear plan and knowledge on how to do it right.

There are situations where the plan “learn along the way” is plausible, but when you’re building a website for your business, everything should fall into its right place.

Here, we listed the key considerations you should make when creating and designing your business website:

Start with the Goal in Mind

Why are you creating a website? What do you want this website to achieve? When do you want your website to achieve it?

These are just some questions you need to answer before starting a website. You need to have a clear goal as to what you plan to achieve and how are you going to execute it through that website. Just like with any goals, your goal should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.

To achieve success, think of it like a reverse pyramid. Define your main goals, then define the steps you need to take to achieve your main goals. Next, define the steps you need to take to get to that point, and so on.

Have a Clear and Clean Copy

Internet users have a very short attention span. You only have few seconds to capture their attention and to lure them into reading more, thus making it critical to have a web copy that reads smoothly, that is compelling, and without unnecessary words. Write a copy that conveys your message in a concise and effective manner, and always try to find ways to improve it.

Navigation and User Experience

Banking on the statement above, that Internet users have a very short attention span, your website navigation should not be a maze for your visitors. Provide information in an easy-to-see and categorised manner. Use big fonts, white spaces, and lightboxes. Simplicity and familiarity are important.

When they can’t easily find what they’re looking for, they will easily close your website and move on to the next. Don’t let that happen.

Pick a Good Colour Scheme

85% of shoppers base their decision on colour primarily, and needless to say, picking the right colour combination should play a huge role in designing your website.

Use the colour theory in deciding which colour to pick.

Contrast – the difference between two colours, such as black or white. This helps improve readability.
Complementation – Complementary colours are found opposite of each other on the colour wheel. Using this as a guide can help produce an effective scheme.
Vibrancy – refers to the emotion colours invoke. For example, red, orange, and yellow energises us and can make us cheerful, while colours green, blue, and purple tend to make us relaxed and calm. Beware, however, these colours can also invoke negative emotions such as anger, or sadness.

Have an Effective Call-to-Action

Each page should only have one main goal. Whether it’s signing up to your newsletter, buying a product, availing a trial, each of your web pages should stick to that goal and craft a call-to-action surrounding the same goal.

This call-to-action should be the focus and the basis for creating the web copy for that page. As mentioned earlier, your copy should be concise and compelling, but it should also lead users to do what you want them to do.

Be Mobile-Friendly

There are over 1.2 billion people accessing the Internet from their mobile devices, and it makes complete sense to create a website that is mobile-friendly and not just for desktop. If your users are online, chances are, they are using their mobile devices. Make sure they can reach you whatever device they want to use.

Also, having a mobile-friendly site can help improve your search rankings. A win-win situation!

Use the Power of Social-Proof

Trust is not easily earned these days. You can’t claim to be anything on your website, without having a proof. The simple and effective solution to this is to provide a space for testimonials on your page. Use their own verbatim and let their statements be natural. If you don’t have any, simply ask feedback from your current customers!

Not only will the provide you with something to put on your website, they can also give you something to consider to improve your products or services.

Creating a beautiful website is not an easy task. A lot of factors come into play and it can be intimidating. Knowing your priorities, however, can help you develop an easier approach that’s exciting, enjoyable, and more effective.

Contact Global Enablement today to get help crafting the website your business deserves!

Websites today are far more complex than the ones we see just a few years ago. With a focus on user experience (UX) and visual appeal, business websites nowadays are starting to become easy to use, while getting harder and more complicated to create.

Fortunately, business outsourcing gave way for business owners to connect with talented web developers around the world, getting access to talents they can’t get nearby.

If you’re new to outsourcing, or to outsourcing website development projects, this can sound crazy. But hold your horses as we give you tips how to successfully outsource web development projects.

Properly Determine Project Requirements

Like with any project, the best way to start is to determine the end goal. What exactly do you want this project to do? Do you want a simple design update? Do you want to improve the UX with a better page structure? Or do you want a complete revamp which is in no way similar to your old website?

Knowing the scope of the project can help you get a better estimate of the time it would take and its cost. More importantly, doing this can help you communicate your needs to your web developer in a clearer and more organised manner, which in turn can help you get the results you want.

Web Developer VS Web Designer

For people who are not familiar with creating websites, it can be easy to confuse web developers with web designers, and this seemingly small mistake can waste your time and even money.

To make it clear, web designers are the ones who determines the layout, navigation, fonts, and even the colour schemes. Basically, they are the ones responsible for planning the look of the website.

Web developers, on the other hand, writes the code to implement the design from the ground up. They build the backbone of the website using different programming languages and tools.

Web developers and Web designers work together to achieve a common goal, but they can also work separately depending on your needs. Identifying your exact needs and picking the right outsource partner to match the requirements can help you achieve your specific goals without wasting precious time and money.

Provide Precise Instructions

Communication is key in achieving accurate results. Unfortunately, having good communication with your chosen developer is not always easy with outsourcing.

The best way to overcome this obstacle is to provide ultra-specific and clear instructions. Take your time in creating a detailed direction if you already have something specific in mind. If you’re not really sure, try to send sample design elements, functionality, or more, from other websites. You and your developer should have discussed all realistic expectations before you start with the project.

Keep Your Communication Lines Open

Both parties should practice consistent communication to ensure you are on the right track. Set a day and time when you could touch base to see how the project is going, discuss existing problems and possible hurdles.

This can be every Tuesday morning, twice a week, or whatever you prefer. As long as you have a meeting schedule that you can both agree on, you’re good to go. But make sure not to make the intervals too long to avoid going the wrong direction.

Starting a web development project is not an easy task. You can’t expect to leave everything to your web developer and wait for the finished product. Identifying your needs, constant communication, detailed instructions, and more, is required to ensure you get satisfying outcomes.

By following these key tips, working with a developer to improve your website can be an easy and enjoyable process than can yield great results.

Global Enablement can help you do that! Our web developers will ensure all bases are covered, and specific timelines are set while maintaining consistent communication so you’re confident your website will be in its best shape. Contact us today to learn more!

Many entrepreneurs today can handle most of their business tasks. No doubt, technological advances made it easier for anyone to run their business efficiently with minimal help. But there are other tasks that might require someone else’s assistance, but don’t justify the need of hiring a new employee. What others do is to try to handle it by themselves, stretching their time too thin to cover everything effectively.

On the other hand, others refuse to work hard. Instead, they work smart. They outsource their tasks to contractors and focus on developing their businesses and acquiring new clients.

Before you shake your head in disagreement, let us look at why outsourcing some of your business tasks is a clever solution.

Smaller Overhead Costs

Some tasks need only to be done once like creating a website, others may require monthly or annual check like bookkeeping tasks and others just on rare occasions. Hiring full-time employees for these purposes will cost you monthly salary, taxes and benefits, and even the need for extra office space. With that set-up, it’s hard to see the return on your investment. But when you’re outsourcing these tasks, you only pay for the time they spend working on your assignments or for the end-result, making it cost-effective.

Efficiency and Effectiveness

Some businesses try to do things outside their core competencies to save costs. But most of the time, they’re having a hard time doing it properly. Take content writing for your blogs as an example. While you probably can write decently, expert writers can do it better and more effectively. Instead of trying to write and end up aggressively hitting the backspace key in frustration, leave it to a content writing expert and be confident that it will yield a more than satisfying result.

Do What You Do Best

When you started your business, you only have one focus – to deliver your amazing products or services to your consumers. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. Eventually, you’ll have to deal with suppliers and vendors, bookkeeping, and administrative tasks. You want to create your website, you want to create blog posts, and you want to gather leads. Wearing multiple hats can be confusing, tiring, and can lead to complete failure. By letting experts handle the tasks you’re not familiar with, you’re freeing yourself up to do what you do best. This way, you can continuously develop and grow your business and set yourself up for success.

Remember, time is the most valuable commodity we have. Spend it wisely.

Finish Multiple Tasks Without Multi-Tasking

When you’re trying to grow your business, or already at the stage where you’re getting traction, you can’t run out of things to do. There’s always something that needs to be done and sooner or later it will be hard to keep up. Instead of trying to do all at the same time and produce mediocre results, delegate each task to experts in the field, handle your own tasks, and get more things done in a shorter span of time with the best possible results.

No More Trial and Error

Training employees to do their job as intended can be a long and expensive process. Not only would you have to invest in their training, you might also need to set up systems and workflows and find what works and what doesn’t. This will consume your time and money, and can probably result in frustration.

With hiring an outsourcing firm, you’re sure to get trained and knowledgeable people, that has their own systems, and will only need initial guidance as to how you want things done. You can reduce your time and capital investment while being confident with the results.

Outsourcing can be a scary territory for you, and it’s understandable. Changes can be scary and challenging. But by taking your first small step, you’re already taking a big leap towards your company’s success. No need to worry, we’re here to guide you each step of the way! Get in touch with us and see the many ways we can help you with outsourcing your tasks.

Year by year, resolutions are being made by individuals, families, and even businesses. And while we at Global Enablement believes everyone can make changes any time of the year, it’s not a bad idea to start the year with positive changes, as long as you stick to it and be consistent. Now, that’s the hard part. Listing things that need to be changed is not difficult. Starting and following through it is the challenge. Today, we’ll provide you with few things you can change to improve your small business and ways to stick to your resolution for good.

Business New Year’s Resolutions for 2020

I will continuously promote my business. It’s not unusual for businesses to delay self-promotion activities to prioritise client work. However, this will prevent your business from growing and it limits you to catering only your current clients. This year, hire a marketing company to handle this aspect of your business. Another efficient yet less expensive option is to utilise social media and your own blog post for your content marketing.
Adapt to better, more efficient, technology. Use bookkeeping software instead of doing it manually. Buy a more powerful and effective desktop computer instead of sticking to your slow and prone to damage laptop. Buy a smartphone to run your business on the go. Improve the functionalities of your website and make it fresh. Those are just a few things you can do this coming year. It can be hard to start anew when you’re used to your old ways, but changing for the better will always put you one step forward.
I will delegate more tasks. If you’re doing everything at once, you might be stretching yourself too thin. This can not only lead to burnout, but also to mediocre results. This year, start delegating tasks to employees or outsource partners. This can lead to better results while you gain a healthy work-life balance. So, instead of writing your own blog posts, have someone else do it. Instead of endlessly trying to make your website better, have a web developer or designer to look at it. Instead of doing other things you’re not an expert in, hire an expert to do it for you. Commit to focusing on your core business and delegate repetitive, boring, or complicated tasks to those who excel at it.
I will adapt the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule) The Pareto Principle states that 20% of your input brings 80% of the results. For example, 20% of your clients are responsible for 80% of your income. If you focus your effort on that 20% of your clients that are bringing in money, you can leave the remaining 80% that’s not bringing in good results. This way, you might be able to develop a stronger relationship with the 20% clients and maybe bring new prospects who’s got better potential on board. Starting this year, focus on what’s important and drop what’s not working for you.
I will learn something new No matter how good you are at what you do, there is always room for improvement. Always look for new ways to develop your products or services, learn basic marketing, or study customer psychology. Expanding your knowledge stimulates your brain and helps you broaden your skill set and increase business opportunities. It doesn’t have to be always related to business, however. Learn a new hobby or take personal development courses as these activities can help you learn more about yourself which you can apply to your small business.

All these may sound easy, but it won’t matter if you can’t make it work. That said, here are some tips to help you stick to your new year’s resolutions:

Set SMART goals - SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable and/or Actionable, Relevant and/or Realistic, and Time-bound.
Regularly track progress
Ask someone to hold you accountable.
Be patient.
If you slip, get back up and try again.

Now that 2020 has ended, we’re here to face yet another year. There are always possibilities of challenges, of difficulties, and even failures. But there is also room for positive results, milestone achievements, and tremendous success. All it takes is the willingness to find ways to grow, to stand back up, and to face whatever is ahead of us.

From the whole team of Global Enablement, we wish you a happy and prosperous New Year!

Not that you need it, but good luck!

With data becoming more accessible and an integrated part of daily life, most businesses today can (and should) harness its powers to make business decisions that can bring them closer to their goals.

From small retail stores to large corporations, data is shaping the way we do business, from understanding our customers to streamlining our internal processes. Organising raw data so that is useful is a critical part of this process.

Once organized, the task of interpreting and analyzing that data to gain insight paves the way to a gold mine for businesses. There are powerful tools and techniques that put these insights at the fingertips of businesses. That’s what we call Business Intelligence.

Let’s look at few real-life examples how it is used in large companies and see what we can learn from them:

Netflix

Recently, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings stated that their biggest competitor is sleep. You read that right.

They are so good at what they do, that the only thing stopping their customers from using their service is the need for sleep. He further said that "When you watch a show from Netflix and get addicted to it, you stay up late at night. We’re competing with sleep, on the margin."

But what keeps people from coming back to Netflix? The ability to know which types of show you’re most interested in. After finishing a good movie or series, Netflix will show you TV shows or movies related or similar to what you’ve already shown interest in and entice you to watch more, thus preventing you from cancelling your subscription.

By fully understanding their customers, even on an individual level, they were able to provide the products that customers will likely watch. But on a larger scale, data effectively tells them which TV shows and movies to buy, what to keep, and what to remove from their roster.

Amazon

Amazon, a hybrid tech meets retail company is one of the best examples of successful use and implementation of Business Intelligence.

Amazon, one of the key innovators of Big Data and Business Intelligence, not only provides recommendations based on users’ search and purchase history (which is what many companies now, like Netflix, do). Amazon will start the process of shipping a product before you even buy it!

Anticipatory Shipping, as their patent is called, is the process of shipping an item to a customer in anticipation of the purchase. Amazon is so confident in their Big Data that they know you will order a product before you even confirm it. By the time you click the button to close the sale, your product is already on its way.

Harnessing the relationships in their data means that they are not only making decisions on past events, but can undertake precision forecasting to drive operations and customer experience.

Tesco

For retail stores like Tesco, it’s always a challenge to move things off the shelf, especially for perishable items that could be wasted.

To combat this, Tesco introduced its loyalty program with Clubcard starting in the mid-1990s. This card, while many competitors use it only to promote discounts and coupons, was used by Tesco to gain insights.

The results? They were able to increase coupon redemption by 3%-70%, save almost 100 million pounds in stock that could have been expired using predictive analytics, and optimise their stock-keeping system.

The data they were able to gather helped them form insights about customer behaviour patterns and have used this information in a lot of aspects of the business, from marketing to inventory, and probably, even staff scheduling.

These large companies used data and Business Intelligence to their advantage and helped them grow to be industry leaders. On the other hand, as a small business organisation, what can we learn from these giants to help us achieve our own success?

Focus On Providing Value

All of these businesses used data to provide more value to their clients. Whether it’s recommendation of relevant products, faster delivery, or tailored mailing and coupon promotions, their focus was to continuously add value to their clients’ lives. The opposite is also true, where many businesses are potentially harming their customer relationships by ignoring these signals or offering irrelevant services.

Data-backed Decisions Work – If They Are Accurate

There are quintillions of data points that can be gathered every second. But knowing which data to gather, interpreting it correctly, and making decisions based on processed data is the key to making data work.

Business Intelligence Applies to All Business Types

Others might think BI only applies to businesses related to tech, finance, online business or other larger industries. However, it’s evident from the examples above that the same principles can be applied whether you’re in the digital marketplace or operating physical retail stores.

Furthermore, it tells us that if these large companies can gather, segregate, and analyse data in unprecedented volumes, it would be a million times easier for smaller businesses to handle a smaller amount of data with less risk of inaccuracy and less amount of time and money.

Technology is continuously evolving, making it faster and easier to collect data. To make use of that data, however, correct analysis and interpretation are all necessary for us to make decisions that will move our organisations toward greater success. The structuring of that data starts before it is even collected.

Strategy Experiences

Our Work

7 Key Considerations When Designing a Business Website

How to Successfully Outsource Web Development Projects

Top 5 Benefits of Outsourcing for Your Small Business

5 New Year’s Resolutions for Small Businesses – and How to Make Them Work

Examples of Large Companies Using Business Intelligence Successfully – And What You Can Learn from Them

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