1. Identify Marketing Goals

As all well-thought-out plans start out, the first step to crafting a killer small business marketing plan is to identify and establish marketing goals. The more precise and clear the goals are, the more a business leader can set the team up for success through quality communication and active listening ears. Hanging up marketing goals as a daily reminder can help small businesses stay on track.

In addition to identifying marketing goals, developing an executive summary helps with reflecting on the current circumstances of the business, its mission statement, and how the business can further grow into the mission statement. This reflection process is often known as a SWOT analysis. The letters in the acronym SWOT represent strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Completing a SWOT analysis better paints a picture of where a marketing plan would benefit the business most.

2. Market Research

Strengthen decisions when developing a market plan with market research. By blending economic trends with consumer behavior, market research allows entrepreneurs to find verification in their business ideas and also advance it. Marking research acts as a process that reduces the risk of a business while it’s still an idea that makes major headway.

A great place to start with market research is by utilizing existing sources. Though existing sources are less consuming of time and effort, more specific target audience information can bloom from doing the grind of research or going out and talking to consumers directly. When market research is done directly, since it can be more time pricey and consuming, thinking about what problems consumers can help answer to form the business can save that extra time and money spent.

3. Target Audience Analysis

When piecing together a marketing plan, it is critical to understand what target audience would be likely to purchase a product or service. If a marketing or sales team is unsure of their target audience, their efforts are not as efficient due to a missed campaign directed at the wrong audience. A target audience analysis calls for business developers to collect and evaluate data. This data includes a target audience’s demographics, interests, engagement with a product or service, values, and lifestyles. When finding a business’s target audience, looking at the target audience for direct competition is a good place for guidance to start.

4. Marketing Channels

The four types of marketing channels include traditional, digital, free, and paid. Identifying these four marketing channels helps with the start of a channel strategy, which is about matching up a target audience’s habits and needs. Selecting which channels best align with a target audience is the first step before brainstorming, planning, and scheduling marketing campaigns.

About Everest Business Funding

Everest Business Funding is a small business owner’s trusted partner. They support entrepreneurs by providing them with working capital to expand their business and operations. The entire application, approval, and funding process is completed in record time. When you need cash for equipment, staff, renovations, inventory, marketing, or anything else, Everest Business Funding can help.

The post A Guide to Crafting a Winning Small Business Marketing Plan from Everest Business Funding appeared first on TechPocket.

Hiring internationally is an excellent way to build diverse, multi-skilled teams. It’s also a wise course of action if you’re actively expanding your business into other countries and want local representation. But there are some unique challenges that come with worldwide hiring.

Fortunately, the more you understand about international hiring and payroll regulations, the easier it becomes to avoid fines and other pitfalls. Here’s how to staff your open positions with the best candidates, whether they hail from Paris or Peoria.

Stay on the Right Side of International Regulations

As with most worthwhile things in life, hiring foreign employees requires preparation, education, and diligent work. Even if you have a long history of successful local recruitment, hiring from somewhere else in the world is different. If you’re not intimately familiar with employer regulations in the country where you’re recruiting, you could end up getting yourself in trouble.

For example, it is not lawful in Australia for interviewers to ask job candidates certain personal questions that may be interpreted as discriminatory. In portions of Africa, written employment contracts are not required by law as they are in many parts of the world. And in most countries outside the U.S., employers are not allowed to terminate employee relationships at will. Instead, they must provide warnings, queries, and other documentation before letting an employee go.

As you can see, rules can be a bit convoluted when you’re hiring internationally. Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate complicated global employment regulations on your own. An employer of record or a professional employer organization can make things easier for you. These two organizations are not interchangeable, so when considering the EOR vs. PEO choice, it’s essential to understand their differences.

The primary distinction between an EOR and a PEO is that the former technically employs your workers, while the latter enters into a co-employment relationship with your local branch, assuming you have one. An EOR establishes legal entities in countries where its clients wish to hire workers, meaning they don’t have to. The primary benefit of using an EOR over a PEO is that an EOR is legally responsible for meeting global employer requirements. This can reduce your risk and give you peace of mind when hiring from elsewhere in the world.

Hire With Your Expansion Goals in Mind

When building your global team, be strategic about where you choose to look for new employees. Locate skilled individuals who work in countries where you plan to expand your business. That way you can slowly build a professional presence in the area in preparation for your future expansion goals.

For example, if you’re eyeing Thailand as a possible new market, hire professionals from Thailand. If you’re getting ready to establish a presence in Australia, it makes the most sense to recruit directly from Australia.

Depending on the country you’re targeting, you may have a choice between hiring employees or using independent contractors. If you’re working with an EOR in the country, you may prefer to hire direct employees. If you’re not, it may be easier to work with independent contractors. Just make sure you don’t run afoul of the country’s worker classification laws, an error that can lead to costly penalties.

So long as workers are correctly classified, you assume less risk when you recruit contractors to work for you. When you hire a contractor, you don’t need to enter into a long-term commitment as you would with an employee. Contractors are also ideal when you need a local professional to help you on a project basis.

Position Yourself As an Inclusive Employer

Keep in mind that just because you’re ready to hire internationally, there’s no guarantee you’ll find willing candidates. If you want to build a skilled team of global professionals, you need to make your company an attractive option. You’ll face a lot of competition when you begin hiring around the world. Some of the biggest and most respected brands are quick to snatch up the brightest minds abroad.

To improve your ability to attract skilled individuals across the globe, you should position yourself as an inclusive employer. Use social media to get the word out that you’re currently looking for the best international talent. Don’t be shy about promoting your image as an employee-centric company that’s dedicated to creating an exceptional work environment. If you do this right, you’ll draw global job seekers to you instead of having to hunt them down.

That said, you may also have to do some more active recruiting. Attend international conferences to broaden your reach and meet talented individuals. You may also find that connecting with worldwide business schools and universities is a great way to acquire talent.

Global hiring can help you find exceptional talent for available job openings. If you’re getting ready to hire employees from another country for the first time, congratulations! You’re embarking on a journey that will yield great rewards for your business and allow you to diversify your company culture. Use the tips above to help you make the global hiring transition as smooth as possible.

The post From Peoria to Paris: How to Hire Top Talent Anywhere in the World appeared first on TechPocket.

What QA strategy is

The testing strategy is an idea about how the QA team will test a product and achieve project aims. This is a document with all QA activities of the project development. It gives you an insight into where and how to use testing in your SDLC.

Moreover, a testing strategy is a set of testing practices. By creating such a document you take advantage of your QA team’s previous testing experience. Every QA team member gets an idea about his responsibility.

QA workflow key points

The strategy is QA workflow related. Key levels of QA workflow include planning, design, realization, evaluation, and reports.

The planning stage includes the identification of essential testing goals. The design stage is about test scenario development.  Having test scenarios you can write test cases. This way you enter the realization stage. The evaluation helps you verify if your system reaches the required quality degree.

Test results are the information not only for the QA team but for all stakeholders too. So you need to provide clear reporting that shows QA workflow progress. Zebrunner automation reporting helps you create a report with any metrics you need. You save your team time because the tool generates reports automatically. You choose metrics and get a report in minutes.

QA strategy components

There are some common components for most QA strategies.

1. The Testing Scope

The testing scope defines what you test and why. Let’s say you are developing a corporate messenger. In this case, you test all the functionality to ensure that everything works correctly. Furthermore, you verify that your app is loaded quickly and the authentication process runs smoothly.

2. Test Types

You should understand which testing types are crucial for your product. During the planning stage, make a list of the types of testing you use. Then decide which ones are most important for you. Here are some popular testing types:

• Installation testing. You check how your application starts and whether it is possible to work with it.
• Cross-browser and cross-platform testing. You analyze platforms and browsers your customers use to work with your app. Next, you verify the correct software work using emulators, simulators, and real devices.
• Functional testing. You check how the system or its component meets the specified requirements.
• Performance testing. You test the system at the largest load.
• Regression testing. You verify that the system is working as expected after changes in one of its components.
• Integration testing. You need to perform it when your app sends the data to another one.
• Localization testing. You verify that your app works in different countries.

3. Test Environment

Hardware and software shape the environment. You should take them into account in the QA strategy. You need to consider what kind of environment you need for testing. Let’s imagine  you conduct beta testing sessions regularly. In this case, you need a stable environment.

4. Roles and Responsibilities

Roles and responsibilities are about our team’s capacity. With such information, you can predict how much time you need for testing.

Each member of the QA team must understand his role in the project. This is necessary because responsibilities can be different depending on the project. This way managers understand which QA competencies are critical. In addition, the responsibilities description shows the expected workload of each QA team member.

5. Testing Tools

Discuss what tools are needed for your project QA workflow. You need solutions for maintaining test documentation, test data preparation, and automated test execution. Try to find good all-in-one software that will simplify your teamwork.

Testing platform speeds up the testing process and makes it much more smooth and clear. Run 1000+ tests in parallel, get automated reports, and access any device you need through the cloud or on-premise.

6. Testing Metrics

Testing metrics help you to track your progress. Using them, you get analytical information about QA team efficiency and productivity, a percentage of passed and failed tests, and the project ROI. Define KPIs to measure the application performance. Clarify how statistics on the use of features will be collected, and how the team will track failures in the app.

7. Risks

You should know your risks and their possible damage to the project. For instance, the risk of losing internet connection is very likely to happen. So you need to check if the basic functionality will work offline. The same approach works with all risks. You determine the risk and ensure that the app responds correctly to it.

8. Priorities in Testing

Achieving 100% test coverage is neither possible nor necessary. You just need to verify that the application works and displays as expected for most users. In order not to get lost in the many necessary checks, prioritize. Check the most critical scenarios first.

The post Top 8 Basic Components for Your QA Strategy appeared first on TechPocket.

5 Common Cybersecurity Mistakes Companies Make

While there is no one-size-fits-all blueprint for an organization’s cyber risk management needs, there are basic core principles that all organizations should uphold to maintain a sound security posture in the face of ongoing attacks.

In the same way, cybersecurity threats interconnect, and so do the solutions. Below are the five most common mistakes companies make when protecting assets from cyber attackers and how to avoid them.

Assuming You’re Not a Target

No matter the size of the business, all companies face the threat of a cyberattack. However, news headlines often mention stolen credit card or personal data. As a result, companies that do not handle this kind of data consider themselves less desirable targets for cyber attackers.

In reality, attackers are conducting large-scale campaigns across all sectors of the economy to infiltrate networks and steal information and assets. Organizations certainly have valuable data. All institutions need to recognize this fact and work to prevent the devastating damage cyberattacks can cause.

Please take this risk seriously. Once your organization’s leadership addresses cybersecurity as a business priority, find qualified security professionals to conduct assessments and tests that identify vulnerabilities across your organization’s technology, people, and processes.

Approaching Cybersecurity as an IT Issue

Technology is part of the solution, but a successful response requires comprehensive strategies, policies, and processes. Ultimately, the CIO or CISO is responsible for threat analysis, but everyone in the organization owns the data and is responsible for protecting the company’s core assets.

Risks to the company via cyber vectors should regularly get to the highest levels of the company’s decision-making bodies. Executives don’t need to know technical details. However, they should have sufficient threat awareness to help them develop good cyber response plans and allocate adequate resources to execute those plans. Through training, education, and simulation, you can teach your entire enterprise how to detect threats and prevent attacks.

Neglecting Your Network

Companies cannot prevent all attacks. The network and target area are too extensive and have too many entry points. However, without understanding the architecture of your network and keeping your software up to date, attackers can compromise your system with little or no resistance.

At the enterprise level, IT teams must implement robust protocols to update all software promptly. Organizations need to know where their critical data resides, the size of their network, where their exit points are, and how the network is segmented. Failure to understand basic network principles and standard network hygiene exposes organizations to unnecessary risk.

Relying Solely on Antiviruses

In today’s threat environment, antivirus technology alone is not sufficient to prevent persistent and advanced attacks. Attackers are evolving their technology faster than security companies can update their tools. Worse, hackers are increasingly using malware-free attack tactics. In fact, less than 40% of attacks today involve malware. You can’t just rely on antivirus security to protect your business.

Antivirus software is still useful and should always be up to date. However, although traditional antivirus solutions can catch mundane malware, they are no match for sophisticated attackers using stealth tactics. Organizations should employ solutions that identify adversary targets and attack impacts, even in the absence of known signatures.

Failing to Monitor Your Enterprise’s Endpoints

The traditional defense model focuses on defending an organization’s perimeter. Today, attackers primarily find ways to infiltrate networks and execute code on system endpoints. We’re also witnessing a continuous and constant evolution of enemy tradecraft. Observing boundaries might be helpful but not the ultimate security option. This is because once enemies are inside, they can operate freely without being detected. After all, no one is looking.

Deploy technology that continuously monitors endpoints. Endpoint visibility is essential in moving from reactive security to proactive search and detection. Collecting large amounts of data and looking for anomalous behavior across your organization can also help identify signs of an attack, allowing you to isolate and mitigate an attacker’s impact on your network.

How to Fortify Your Safety

In addition to the several measures mentioned, installing a good proxy server for your business can improve a company’s chances of surviving cyber threats. Free proxy alternatives are also available for startups looking to secure themselves but still don’t have a big budget. Whatever measures you take, ensure your business can detect and prevent cyber-attacks.

The post 5 Cyber Security Mistakes Companies Make and How to Avoid Them appeared first on TechPocket.

Without wasting time on unnecessary market research, keep reading to find out more about print management software and the best tools you can employ.

What Is Print Management?

The use of many techniques, such as printing device tracking, computer device tracking, print output monitoring, sensitive data security, printing cost optimization, and print analytics, is known as print management. Modern, clever software engineers combine these features to create a print management solution.

To handle printing operations, startups, small businesses, and medium-sized companies at least employ a simple tool. Instead, businesses implement a fully functional print management solution to control all printing operations worldwide, either locally or in the cloud.

1. Print Manager Plus 9.0

By providing companies with unmatched control, access, and print insight over their printing operations, Print Manager Plus 9.0 brings a new level of print management to the table. Over decades of use in numerous businesses, the program’s creators have refined it.

This print management software finds the most advanced technology and end-user support. Using this tool, your business can save money on printing supplies, cut down on paper waste, and improve departmental printing intelligence.

Print Management Software, Print Manager Plus 9

Some impressive characteristics of this print management software are the ones listed below:

The IT administrator can view the printing activities of an employee, workstation, printer, network, and cost.

Release stations with ID cards or payment streamline printing activities for work or printing establishments.

You can reduce printing by people, workstations, or printers using its quota and budget settings to save money.

Print Manager Plus 9.0 also adheres to environmental regulations to make your workplace or print shop greener. It lessens the amount of ink, energy, and paper wasted, lowering your business’s carbon footprint.

2. PaperCut

PaperCut is without a doubt one of the top brands when it comes to effective print control software for small to large enterprises. Any size of business can reduce waste with the use of the tool and its cloud-based services. Business owners might also forget the data security of confidential printing reports.

Your printing experiences will be enjoyable after using PaperCut. Your staff members must use various devices at work, including laptops, Chromebooks, smartphones, and tablets. When there are several devices, it could be difficult for IT system administrators to ensure all drivers are set up for simple printing.

With its Easy printing services, such as sending a print command to one queue and receiving the copy from any printer, a common MFD touchscreen for all the various printer models, etc., PaperCut successfully addresses this.

By utilizing its services, you can also deploy extremely secure business printing. A three-way printing protection is used by PaperCut:

• It lets you control who may print, what can be printed, and other aspects of the printing infrastructure before anything is printed.
• You can use card-based secured print copy release and two-factor authentication during the printing process.
• You can use techniques like print archiving, audit trails, digital signatures, and watermarking to protect secret information after the print has been distributed and the copy has arrived at the office.

Along with these products, PaperCut offers free versions of PaperCut Mobility Print, PaperCut Views for print analytics, and QRdoc for business document stamping.

3. Print Conductor

Try Print Conductor to print more than 90 different document kinds without opening the file. It has a fast and dependable print engine and a straightforward and user-friendly interface for bulk printing. Additionally, you may manage batch print jobs, preview the print document, sort print files, and quickly change print settings from a single application.

Software for Print Management Conductor

The tool supports every type of contemporary printer in local networks, wide area networks, or cloud networks. In addition, you may use this application to manage printing tasks on virtual printers like PDF printers and OneNote printers, in addition to real printers.

Print Conductor provides a print analytics module, just like its rivals. Before large batch printing projects, it aids in estimating the amount of paper and ink needed. Estimates can be found on the Report page and Detailed report.

4. uniFLOW

uniFLOW is an additional tool for taking control of the print infrastructure at the office. This tool is used by large organizations and printing companies that work with various high-tech printing equipment, including Canon, Xerox, Epson, Brother, Konica Minolta, etc.

Applications for managing printing are available both locally and in the cloud. Tools from the cloud and on-site services are an integrated platform for simple scanning, printing, and secure device management.

The Secure printing and Universal driver features of uniFLOW are important innovations you should be aware of. You may provide each employee with their account thanks to secure printing technology. Employees must release the printed copy using their ID card or PIN. Additionally, the user must be present to retrieve the printing copy from the machine.

The Universal driver makes sure that the application supports a variety of hardware, including printers. All computing devices, including laptops and mobile phones, allow users to send print commands to any networked printer.

5. UniPrint InfinityCloud

Another well-liked technology for enterprise print management and virtual desktop interface (VDI) with a scalable solution is UniPrint InfinityCloud. The application can easily interface with all current printers and computing devices for printing purposes because it is a vendor-neutral utility.

The UniPrint solution is ideal for companies of every size, from start-ups to global giants. It also provides specialized on-site and cloud services for sectors like banking and finance, insurance, managed service providers (MSPs), cloud service providers, government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and healthcare.

Standard features like a flexible consumption model and tool licencing, serverless printing, print analytics, print tracking, print from anywhere, and touchless printing are all part of its key print management solution.

6. PrinterAdmin

If you require a practical print management solution for a business or educational institution, you may also try PrinterAdmin. With this tool, you can keep an eye on everything related to printing, including users, printers, workstations, and charge-backs.

Additionally, it has a basic printing insight tool or analytics module that provides information on your company’s printing volume, ink usage, and total printing costs.

Print management software from PrinterAdmin

Advanced features are added through the PrinterAdmin utility. As follows:

Use the print job manager for print preferences, account setup, driver activation, etc.

Document release stations decrease waste by only releasing prints when the user is present and boost security.

You can record print information using a print watermarking technique.

A 30-day free trial is offered for each application. You can take advantage of the trial offer and see if the product is valuable for your company by utilizing it for a time.

7. Print Tracker Pro

With the one-click install function included with Print Tracker Pro, you can start managing prints immediately. Your staff or customers will receive the greatest service because it is easy to set up and use this product.

It is a clever print management system that can accurately interface with all popular modern printers and computing hardware, reducing device downtime due to driver installation or lack of support.

All granular print-related details, including toner levels, metres, page counts, printer installations, and service alerts, are delivered through its reliable tracking system. Additionally, the programme may be configured to send you reminders for ink replacement or the simple factoring of printer metre reading to invoices.

Final Words

A collection of well-liked print management programs suitable for businesses may be seen above. Any of these programs can be used for a home office, a business, a store, a publishing house, or a copy shop.

Since you’re already here,  look at these top PDF converters and try to avoid printing whenever you can to save money.

The post 7 Best Print Management Software for Businesses appeared first on TechPocket.

There are many ways to lower your business insurance premium, but today you are here to discover the 5 best ways to do it. These ways apply to you no matter how big your business is. So, let’s jump in and discuss the 5 ways to save you money.

Picture Details: https://www.rawpixel.com/image/1019579/free-image-rawpixelcom

1. Evaluate Your Needs

If you are unsure what types of insurance you need, it is time to sit down and do some research. There are many different types of business insurance available for you to obtain. You can save substantial money on your premiums if you remove the ones you do not need. If you purchased a business insurance package, you received a variety of insurance policies that most businesses in the same industry use. These plans will include some things you do not need and leave out some that you want.

It is crucial to review the offer before accepting it and make any necessary changes. If you are not sure what you need, obtain the help of a business coach or a lawyer that can help you through the process, step by step. There is no need to pay an outrageous amount for a policy you do not need, but make sure you are paying for the business insurance you require.

2. Higher Deductible

The most straightforward way to decrease the cost of your insurance premiums is to increase the amount of the deductible that you have set. The higher you put this amount, the lower your premiums will be. This can decrease your insurance costs substantially, as you can see by going in and playing around with the numbers.

Remember, though, that the higher your deductible is, the more you will have to pay out of your pocket. If you do not have many claims throughout the year, this is a great way to save your business money. But on the other hand, if you have a lot of claims, you will not want to foot a huge bill before the insurance company picks up the costs.

3. Compare Policies

Business insurance rates can fluctuate up and down, depending upon the insurance carrier and what level of coverage you are opting for. It can take a substantial amount of time for you to call around and get some quotes, which is why you need to go to an online comparison platform and let them do the work for you.

All you will have to do is go through the offers that the platform throws at you. Check to see which are the most affordable and compare that to the type and amount of coverage they offer. Always remember that the cheapest insurance plan may not always be the best. Compare them all to each other and pick the one that works the best for you.

4. Premium Payments

It will seem like an excellent idea to pay the monthly premiums because it is something you can budget for your business. If you dig a little bit deeper into this idea, you will find that you will pay more by the end of the year if you make monthly payments.

The best way is to pay the entire amount in one big payment. This will require you to make a substantial payment upfront, but it is only once a year, leaving the other months with extra income to help you grow your business. You have two options if paying the premium by the year is too much. You need to either save up some profits throughout the year or find some ways to increase the profits brought in by your business.

5. Bundle Insurance Policies

Once you have researched and know what types of insurance coverage you need, you want to bundle them all into one large file. This will save you money on each policy you have, even though you would swear that you are paying more because you see one large premium amount due instead of a bunch of smaller ones.

Suppose your business insurance carrier works with private individuals. In that case, you may even want to add them all under a more significant umbrella policy. This will connect all your personal policies with your business contracts, giving you a reduction on their premiums.

Final Thoughts

Business insurance can be a thorn in your side when you are just getting started, but it is worth the pain it gives your pocketbook. You do not want to be without coverage when needed, so it is better to have it. You do not need to invest in a policy covering everything possible, though, because some of it will not apply to you and your business. Never pay for something you do not use, and never go without it.

The post 5 Ways To Lower Your Business Insurance Premium appeared first on TechPocket.

A document imaging system is considered critical in capturing files in various forms and organizing them to make your daily operations more convenient and optimal. If you’re new to this technology, it would be best to learn more about them by reading this article.

There are many vendors offering data capture software today, and it could get overwhelming and stressful to choose which provider to go for. Thus, it’s best that you equip yourself with sufficient knowledge to enable you to choose the crucial features and functions for your business. After all, you can easily find the right match for your business needs when you know what to look for.

That said, here are the must-have features to look for when choosing a suitable document imaging system for your business.

• On-Demand Access 

When choosing a provider or vendor, the first thing to look out for is to ensure that the software allows on-demand access. This means all documents can be stored and accessed on-demand in the most robust document imaging systems with customizable folder structures. It should be possible to import records into document imaging systems in various ways, from single scanning sheets to batch processing. Moreover, your business might require making use of any paper or document conversions every day, so this tool can expedite tasks altogether.

Additionally, many scanning systems offer options for importing photos taken with smartphones and tablets directly into the document repository. This can spare you the trouble of only using laptops and computers. And even your remote workers can be able to access the software through their tablets or smartphones only.  

• Convenient Search Function 

It’s normal for your business to store hundreds or even thousands of scanned files in your cloud or internal storage. However, it’s vital that you find the information you’re looking for and find it quickly since businesses should be able to manage a variety of vital records at any given time. You wouldn’t want your employees to waste their time struggling to find the file that they want to access.

To make a document imaging system practical, search functions are vital. The system should make use of numbers, file names, codes, and other metadata to make the search faster and more effective. It’s also possible for some document imaging systems to categorize your files accordingly, so the searching function becomes easier.

Metadata indexing of documents stored in a repository offers numerous benefits. It is a crucial feature of a document imaging system that makes information accessible on demand. Metadata, or data about data, is typically generated through template fields that can be applied to different types of documents. These account numbers, customer names, and expiration dates can help identify records throughout the repository.

• Cloud Storage 

The challenge with managing digital documents is ensuring they can be accessed when needed and wherever you may be. However, the internal storage of the equipment will require your employees to come to the office physically. This can be a hassle and time-wasting. Hence, it’s best to go for a document imaging system that offers cloud-based storage. This way, even your remote staff can quickly go through the images and files through internet access.

Especially today, when most companies are considering adopting the remote work and hybrid setup, offices should utilize tools and systems that offer cloud storage. Having all your documents in a central place is more important than ever. You can work with international teams and remote workers more seamlessly and save time and money by utilizing a cloud-based document imaging system. However, it’s crucial to apply essential measures to protect and secure your data in the cloud.

• Option To View History And Past Records 

Another feature that your document imaging system should have is the option to access past records and edit history. A business needs to keep track of those changes, especially when it comes to documents. Manually sorting out and keeping up with file changes can be impossible. Fortunately, a document imaging system can help you track history and past records.

Consider software that provides a detailed history of edits, including when and what changes were made. Version control and ensuring team members work with the most current versions of documents require this data.

Conclusion 

Each business manages information differently. However, a common denominator among organizations is teams can often be hampered by paper-based solutions and inefficient cloud solutions, which can generally cause errors and delays in daily tasks.

Fortunately, the right document imaging system can help you avoid mistakes and inconvenience. More so, what’s important is to go for a system that boasts the features mentioned above so you can maximize their benefits and uses for your business operations.

The post 4 Features Of Document Imaging Systems appeared first on TechPocket.

What Is An Internal Audit?

An internal controls audit, also known as an internal audit, is a process by which a company examines its financial statements and operations to ensure accuracy. The purpose of an internal controls audit is to improve the accuracy and reliability of financial information and identify areas in which the company can improve its performance. Internal controls audits should be completed regularly to ensure that the company’s data is protected.

What Should You Take Into Consideration Before Your Audit?

There are several factors that you should consider before your internal audit. The first step is to identify who should be involved in the process. Then, you need to establish a plan for the audit and determine which steps will be included. Finally, you need to ensure that your company’s data is protected during the audit.

Who Should Be Involved In The Internal Audit Process?

The internal audit process should be led by a qualified individual, such as a certified public accountant (CPA) or an experienced auditor. However, it is essential to involve other company members to get a broad perspective on the organization’s operations.

Senior management should be involved in setting the overall direction of the internal audit, and they should also review the findings and recommendations of the auditor.

Employees at all levels of the company should participate in the internal audit process, as they are in a unique position to provide insights into operations.

CPAs or other experienced auditors should conduct the internal controls audit. They will assess financial statements and operational processes, and they will also recommend corrective actions.

What Are The Steps Of An Internal Audit Process?

The steps of an internal audit process vary depending on the size and complexity of the company. However, there are some general steps that you can follow. First, the auditor should review the company’s financial statements and internal control policies.

Next, the auditor should assess the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls.

Finally, the auditor should recommend corrective actions to improve the company’s operations.

How To Protect Your Data During An Audit?

The data of a company is its most valuable asset, and it is vital to protect it during an internal audit. One way to do this is to use a secure data destruction service. This service will destroy all of the data collected during the audit process, ensuring that it cannot be accessed or used by unauthorized individuals.

Another way to protect data is to use a secure document management system. This system will allow you to store all of the audit data in a safe location, and it will also allow you to track who has access to the information.

How Can You Ensure That Your Internal Audit Is Effective And Meaningful?

To ensure that your internal audit is effective and meaningful, you should follow some best practices. First, you should establish a clear scope for the audit and make sure that everyone involved understands it. Next, you should gather all relevant data and documents before beginning the audit. This will help you avoid any delays later on.

You should also ensure that the auditor has sufficient time to complete the audit correctly. Furthermore, you should provide feedback to the auditor once the audit is completed. This will help ensure that the audit was effective and meaningful.

Conclusion

An internal audit is an essential tool that can help a company improve its operations. By following the best practices listed above, you can ensure that your internal audit is effective and meaningful.

The post 3 Important Factors To Consider When Conducting An Internal Audit appeared first on TechPocket.

This article will discuss using an X.509 certificate and how one can help protect your business from these threats. We’ll also provide some tips on how you can stay safe online and keep your data protected!

What is an X.509 certificate?

An X.509 certificate is a digital certificate that uses the public key infrastructure to bind the identity of a user, computer, or organization to an asymmetric cryptographic key. This key can be used to encrypt or sign data, and the X.509 certificate helps ensure that the data comes from the claimed source and has not been tampered with.

How can an X.509 certificate help protect my business?

An X.509 certificate can help protect your business in two ways: first, by encrypting data that is sent between your company and another party, and second, by authenticating the identity of the sender. This means that if a malicious impersonator were to try and gain access to your company data, they would not be able to read or tamper with it because it is encrypted.

Additionally, if the impersonator tried to send their data pretending to be your company, the recipient would be able to see that the certificate did not match up and would know not to trust the data.

What steps can you take to protect your business from these criminals?

There are a few steps you can take to help protect your business from malicious impersonators. First, make sure that all of your employees are using strong passwords and that they are not sharing passwords with anyone.

Second, use two-factor authentication whenever possible. In addition to a password, the user will also need to enter a code sent to their phone or email. This makes it much harder for an impersonator to access your company data.

Finally, keep an eye out for suspicious activity – if you see something that doesn’t look right, don’t hesitate to reach out to your IT department or security team.

How can you protect your data from being stolen or compromised by a malicious impersonator?

To protect your data from being stolen or compromised by a malicious impersonator, you should consider using an X.509 certificate. As we mentioned before, an X.509 certificate can help encrypt data sent between your company and another party.

Additionally, the certificate can be used to authenticate the identity of the sender – meaning that if an impersonator tried to send their data pretending to be your company, the recipient would be able to see that the certificate did not match up and would know not to trust the data.

You should also make sure that all of your employees are using strong passwords and that they are not sharing passwords with anyone. Additionally, it would help if you use two-factor authentication whenever possible.

Finally, keep an eye out for suspicious activity and immediately report it to your IT department or security team.

What should you do if your business has been the victim of an impersonation attack?

If your business has been the victim of an impersonation attack, you should contact your local law enforcement and file a report. You should also change all of your passwords and update your security software.

How can you prevent future attacks from happening?’

To prevent future attacks from happening, you should use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, keep your software up to date, and educate your employees on the dangers of malicious impersonators. It would be best if you also considered investing in an X.509 certificate to help protect your data from being stolen or tampered with by these criminals.

The post Malicious Impersonators: How to Protect Your Business and Data appeared first on TechPocket.

Ensuring Data Governance

Data governance ensures that your data is accurate, reliable, and compliant with all applicable laws and regulations. It includes developing policies and procedures for how data should be collected, used, and protected. There are many different aspects to consider when developing a data governance strategy, but some of the most important include:

Classification: You need to develop a system for classifying your data to determine who has access to it and what level of protection it needs. Classification is important because it can help you avoid data breaches and comply with data privacy laws.

Storage: You need to decide where you will store your data and how you are going to protect it. There are many different storage options available, so you need to choose the best one for your business.

Access control: You need to restrict access to your data to only those individuals who need it for their job duties. This can be accomplished through physical security measures like locked doors and security cameras and logical security measures like user IDs and passwords.

Data retention: You need to develop a policy for how long you will keep data and when it should be deleted. This is important for both legal and security reasons.

Disaster recovery: You need to have a plan for how you will recover from a disaster, such as a fire or a flood. This plan should include backup procedures and alternative storage locations.

By using a data governance pillar, you can ensure that your data is appropriately protected and that your business complies with all applicable laws and regulations.

Implementing Data Security Measures

In addition to data governance, there are other measures you can take to ensure data security, privacy, and protection. Some of the most critical include:

Using a password manager

A password manager is a software program that helps you create and store strong passwords for your online accounts. This is important because using weak or easily guessed passwords is one of the most common ways hackers gain access to accounts.

Installing an antivirus program

Antivirus programs help protect your devices from malware, which is software designed to damage or disable computers. It is essential to keep your antivirus program up-to-date to be effective against the latest threats.

Only opening emails from people you know

Hackers can gain access to your accounts by sending you emails with attachments or links that contain malware. If you only open emails from people you know, you can help protect yourself from this type of attack.

Don’t share personal information

Another way that hackers can gain access to your accounts is by tricking you into sharing personal information like your address, Social Security number, or date of birth. You should only share this type of information with people you trust.

Using two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication is a security measure that requires two forms of identification to log into an account. This can be something like a password, and a fingerprint or a password and a code sent to your phone. Using two-factor authentication can help protect your accounts even if your passwords are compromised.

Backing up your data

Finally, it is important to back up your data on a regular basis. If your devices are lost or stolen, you will still have a copy of your data. Backing up your data can be simple, such as copying files to an external hard drive, or more complex, such as using a cloud-based backup service.

Final Thoughts

Data security, privacy, and protection are essential for any business. Using data governance and implementing security measures can help ensure that your data is appropriately protected. You never know if someone could be trying to access your data without your permission, so it is vital to be proactive in your efforts to protect it. So be sure to use these best ways to ensure data security, privacy, and protection for your business.

The post The Best Ways To Ensure Data Security, Privacy, and Protection appeared first on TechPocket.