Email Marketing Services (Insight/Information)

by Felicien | Jul 18, 2018 | Education

Making the Most of Email Marketing Service Providers

Email marketing provides businesses with the most direct line of communication for connecting with customers and turning leads into sales. It is also one of the most cost-effective marketing methods available.
While you can use any number of methods and a suitable tool to easily acquire subscribers and build your email list, the actual email delivery part comes down to your choice of email marketing services.
An email marketing service provider, or ESP, is simply a web-based service that can help you organize, manage, automate, and track your marketing emails.
Your choice of ESP can make or break your overall marketing campaign. You don’t want to end up shelling out a lot more money for fewer features and perhaps an inefficient delivery system, which could translate into losing money and subscribers.
So, if you’re looking to start using an email marketing service, or if you’re switching from your current provider, here are some helpful facts to jumpstart your research.
What To Expect From Your ESP
Any email marketing service provider will normally offer you a number of essential features. Of course, the level of service varies from one ESP to another depending on the cost.

Spam test – to gauge the score of an email against a known factor or set of factors that would place the email at risk of being flagged or blocked.
Ability to import, create, and manage subscriber lists – these management features usually include list segmentation and customizable fields.
The ability to use templates for sending an email – this often includes testing of the templates for compatibility with emailing apps.
The ability to track and review statistics of emails sent – usually as a way to measure and test the success rate of campaigns.
The ability to send both HTML and plain text emails – these format varieties help to improve delivery success rates.
The ability to dynamically customize the content of emails that are sent out – helps with tailoring personalized and relevant email communication.

Why You’ll Want To Include An ESP In Your Email Marketing Strategy
Using an email marketing service comes with a number of benefits that may be a great boon to your overall marketing strategy. Let’s have a look at some of them.
Preventing intentional (or unintentional) email marketing abuse
These web-based emailing services provide methods that are within legal boundaries, thereby creating natural constraints for marketers to work within the acceptable limits. This can go a long way in ensuring that email marketing campaigns are successful – often by keeping marketers from overwhelming recipients with their emails and risk getting flagged as spam.
Saving time and money
With ready-to-use email templates available in multiple formats, you won’t have to spend time creating emails from scratch each time you want to send one. This, added to the fact that ESPs provide list management and organization, automation, testing, and targeting, as well as tracking and analyzing of emails. These tasks would be very time consuming to perform yourself. An ESP can ensure that you shave tremendous amounts of time off your campaign management duties.
Which Way To Go: ESPs Compared
Often, you’ll have to choose from the long list of email marketing service providers available in this industry. The popular ones today include MailChimp, AWeber, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, GetResponse, and ConstantContact. There are many others.
All these ESPs have their various appeals and relative differences that will determine the best option for your needs. It will help to know what to look for, in order to choose the right one.
Cost and your budget
How much are you willing to pay and what number of subscribers are you targeting with your email marketing campaign? What you need is a pricing structure that fits within your budget and will fit into your email strategy. Charges and pricing terms vary from one ESP to the next, so be sure to analyze the pricing plans and terms from various vendors before settling on one.
Age of the ESP
If you are all about industry experience, then you’ll want to think about the level of experience that an ESP has gained from being in the market for longer. Of the six ESPs listed here, ConstantContact is the oldest, having been founded in 1995. AWeber comes in as second oldest, having been founded in 1998.
List of features and user experience
Various ESPs offer hundreds of different features. More importantly, pay attention to the IP (do they provide a dedicated IP or will you share with other users), email types (automated daily emails, real-time ‘triggered’ emails, one-off marketing newsletters), API database integration, dynamic merge fields, A/B testing capabilities, analytics, and any other feature(s) that you find essential for your business.
Wrap up
With a clear knowledge of what to look for, you can profile your ideal choice of vendor based on your simple list of requirements and go to market assured of getting the best ESP for your email marketing needs. It takes a bit of research but should pay off with better results for every campaign.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (Questions/Answers)

by Felicien | Jul 17, 2018 | Education

New Consumer Privacy Act to Take Privacy Protection in California a Notch Higher
No consumer really knows the exact amount of data that companies collect about them online at any particular time. It is nearly impossible to determine exactly what information is collected and how it will be used. This has always been a sore spot with consumers. Everyone enjoys the convenience of shopping online. Up to now, there has never been a way to control how your personal information is collected, stored, or used.
In California, this is about to change. With the recent passing of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), consumers will now have some control over this.
The law, which goes into effect January 1, 2020, is designed to empower consumers with knowledge about how their personal information will be collected, used, and stored.
To break it down, here are the rights that the California Consumer Privacy Act, also known as AB-375, gives the residents of California:

Knowledge about the kind of personal information that companies are collecting about them.
Knowledge about whether the information collected about them is getting sold or disclosed to some other entity. The law entitles Californians to know the identity of the party obtaining their data from the original collector.
Consumers can refuse the sale or disclosure of their personal information.
They can gain unrestricted access to their personal information in its “readily useable format” that makes it viable for transfer to third parties.
They can still enjoy equal services and prices even when they exercise their privacy rights. Companies can’t charge more or decline services to a consumer who wants to obtain information about how their information will be used.

Working Toward Stronger Consumer Privacy Protections
The creation of the California Consumer Privacy Act is the culmination of a move to address growing user privacy concerns and the continued rise in data breaches in many parts of the country.
In particular, the law explicitly attributes its genesis to the major privacy scandals witnessed in recent months, including the incident where Cambridge Analytica misappropriated Facebook user data of at least 87 million people. It is against this backdrop and other similar news that the law gained much of the political impetus that drove its successful passage.
The passage of this law comes on the heels of episodes of intense negotiation especially from US tech giants and leading internet service providers. The discussions also brought to the table various privacy advocates, a number of technology startups, and other concerned parties.
Many have described this new piece of legislation as a landmark policy that constitutes the most rigorous consumer data protection regime in the US. It is joining the likes of the Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL) and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which constitute part of a global movement toward greater data transparency and stronger protections around consumer privacy.
What Sets CCPA Apart?
First, compared to the GDPR, which continues to have an extensive influence across the globe, the California law exclusively applies to the State of California and its residents, not the entire United States of America. But considering that California boasts a population of 40 million, it’s only likely that every company involved in collecting user data in the U.S. will be affected by this law.
While GDPR requires that by default, businesses opt out of collecting consumer data unless the consumer gives them the explicit rights to do so, the California Consumer Privacy Act does not impose such a requirement. It doesn’t require companies to seek people’s permission to collect their personal information from the get-go. The legislation is rather focused on empowering consumers to have a say over their privacy and the collection of their personal information.
For the rest of the US, there is a separate bill in the pipeline, AB-2546, that is set to amend California’s anti-spam law in a bid to strengthen its provisions. As it is, this law will not be limited to the State of California, but rather, will have a sweeping effect throughout the United States of America.
Who Is Affected By This Law?
According to the text of the California Consumer Privacy Act, companies that fit the following criteria will have to abide by the provisions of the new law:

Businesses that are involved in brokering data, as well as those that buy the data, sell, or share the personal information of approximately 50,000 or more individuals, devices or households.
Companies whose annual revenue mostly comes from the sale of consumer personal information.
Businesses that have at least $25 million in annual gross revenues.

Failure to abide by these provisions would attract legal action against the errant companies – with the cost of damages stipulated to be anywhere from $100 to $750 or higher. With California law in effect, citizens have the right to bring a civil action against any business that operates in violation of the law.
The law also allows the state of California to bring charges against errant companies directly. In such a case, the fines levied will be $7,500 for every violation that remains unaddressed within a 30-day window.
Wrap up
The cost of violating the California Consumer Privacy Act can be significant. Companies that are bound by this piece of legislation must obey it or run the risk of paying huge fines. Both government and consumers will be on the look-out to see whether companies will adhere to these new regulations or run the risk of being fined. An even greater penalty, companies that refuse to abide by these regulations may damage their reputation and lose the confidence of consumers.

Mobile Computing (Tips and Tricks)

by Felicien | Jul 16, 2018 | Education

Want 7 Great Mobile Computing Tips?

Mobile computing is now the new norm. We’re no longer tied to our desktops like we were years ago. Whether you’re traveling or running from meeting to meeting, your laptop and cloud computing can be your best friends. However, mobile computing also creates challenges for us and our businesses. The following are some tips to keep things under control.
Keep A Plug Splitter Handy
If you travel a lot like I do you can find yourself sitting in an airport boarding area waiting longer than you had planned to. I always take this time to be as productive as I can and get work done on my laptop. But there are times when I need to recharge the battery and I can’t find a spare wall plug because others are doing the same.
This is when you need that handy plug splitter. It converts one grounded outlet into three. A 3-outlet splitter is usually rated at 15 amps. You can plug three different devices into it. Just make sure their combined load is less than 15 amps or 1,875 watts.
Always Use A Secure Server
It’s essential that when you send and receive information from your laptop or any mobile device that you know it won’t be intercepted.  Public WiFi hotspots don’t ensure your data security. If you must use one be sure it’s connected to a secure server.
Look for a locked padlock icon on your browser. This tells you that you’re using an SSL (secure sockets layer)-encrypted session. You can also check any website you access by looking for “https://” in its address, rather than the usual http://.
Encrypt Your Data And Employ Mobile Device Management
Encrypt the data on your laptop so if it’s stolen, criminals won’t be able to access it.  Better yet, ask CCS to implement Remote Management Monitoring and Mobile Device Management on all your computers. Threats can be detected, blocked, and deleted. Your mobile device can be wiped clean if it’s lost or stolen. Otherwise, if someone steals your laptop, they can hack your system, stealing your login and password, then read everything in your files.
Watch Out For Hotel WiFi and DarkHotel
Hotel WiFi is designed for easy access. Just because it’s provided as part of your room charge doesn’t mean that it’s totally private. Typically, public and hotel WiFi don’t utilize WPA (WiFi Protected Access) like you do in your office and home.
Last year, a group of hackers by the name of Darkhotel came out with a new attack, aimed at exploiting hotel WiFi. Their goal was to target business travelers who stay at high-end hotels. They typically use phishing attacks that contain links to Trojan viruses.  Lately, they’ve been using the Inexsmar malware and multi-stage Trojans. The DarkHotel criminals have been stealing data for ten years targeting thousands of businesses around the world via WiFi infrastructures in hotels.
Don’t Take All Your Business Data With You
Don’t put more data than necessary on your laptop. Just store what you need. If you carry all your company files with you and you lose your laptop, or a thief steals it, they have all of your company records and client data.
Better yet, ask CCS to set up a hybrid or private cloud for your business. This way everything is stored in a secure data center and you can access it via the Internet with your private credentials (keep these safe too!).  You can easily download exactly what you need and upload it when you’ve completed your work.
Use Microsoft Office 365
We can’t say enough about this software. You pay an affordable monthly or yearly subscription based on the number of users and it provides email and communication services, document sharing and collaboration, and so much more.  You can work on documents and projects with your teams in real time, and it’s easy because you’re probably already using Microsoft solutions like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You’ll have 24/7 access to all your applications and documents via the Internet. Microsoft takes all the responsibility for reliability and security so you won’t need to worry about this.
Microsoft Office 365 is easy to sign up for, but it’s often a struggle to migrate your existing platforms to it. CCS can help and assist with the transition.  
7. Turn Off Your Bluetooth When Traveling
This is always a good idea. Criminals are now accessing the infrared on our phones and laptops to deposit spam, viruses, and steal data like contact information. This is called Bluejacking and Bluesnarfing.  Whenever you travel, be sure to disable the infrared port on your laptop and smartphone. Also, configure your Bluetooth device to “nondiscovery mode.” This could pose some inconveniences for you, but it will protect your data and privacy.

Finding The Right Managed Services Provider (Questions/Answers)

by Felicien | Jul 12, 2018 | Education

How Useful Are MSPs?

Managed Service Providers in the field of Information Technology have a more critical role than other business organizations. There are important things to consider when it comes to IT, and these are:

Reliable IT staff-able to conduct routine maintenance such as updating and installing hardware and software.
Availability-sometimes an organization needs a system that can support their business on a 24/7 time basis. Especially if engaged in international business and there is the issue of different time zones. This may call for staff that is able to meet this demand.
Generate Income-ensure that whatever technology you are using in your organization is able to pay you back and not the other way round. This is achieved by simply weighing the available options and making the right choice as to the type of technology most suited to properly run your organization.

Why do you need MSP?
Organizations prefer having in-house IT staff because it is cheaper to have an employee on pay role than hire an IT firm to manage your network. What most entities don’t know is that they could be missing out on better services than just the routine maintenance and updating of software. There is a whole lot more in the tech world, so instead of overwhelming your IT staff and missing out on new developments, the managed service providers do the extra that will boost your business to higher levels. Here are the reasons why you should consider MSPs:

Specialized support: depending on the kind of organization you are running, they custom make for you the most suitable IT system. They are aware of the statutory regulations in your area of expertise and so ensure that your technology is in compliance. Examples of those regulations include: the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which is very critical in an organization dealing with Healthcare in the United States of America. Also, the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR), which is a regulation in European Union law on data protection and privacy for all people within the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA). These are just a few of the considerations that an MSP takes into account when managing and maintaining your technology.
Reliable support which provides a 24/7 help desk to deal with client issues. This is basically an IT firm’s work; it is what they specialize in. They give it their all as compared to your organization’s IT staff who would not appreciate being disturbed in the middle of the night just to handle a client issue. It would also be very expensive to try and employ staff who are able to provide services over time.
Security and privacy of client data are guaranteed since the IT staff in the managed service providers are experts who are well equipped and ready to handle issues of a security breach. To top it off, your organization will not have to worry about the legal liabilities that may arise in case a security breach occurs.
System back-up and data recovery are well handled by the MSP because they have the resources to conduct research and come up with mechanisms to deal with network issues such as downtime. Small entities do not have to worry about spending additional resources on top of what is already lost in trying to establish better mechanisms in terms of what should be done in those situations. MSPs will ensure that you get back on your feet as soon as possible in situations where issues like downtime affect your business.
Software updates are as important in IT as regular service on a car. Needless to say, they are a bit complex and time-consuming. MSPs help you to focus on other important things as they update your software in the background. They know which one is best suited for your organization to give you optimum benefits.
It is very expensive trying to hire the services of an IT firm for a specific task or during an emergency. You could save on these expenses if you are relying on a contracted managed service providers. They are reliable and efficient because they understand your business environment and so handle emergencies beforehand by devising workable, tried and trusted mechanisms.

Wrap up
Technology has become an integral part of every organization. The best way to ensure that you are maximizing its benefits is by acquiring and managing the right technology suitable for your organization. That is exactly why you need the managed service providers to do all your IT work. You worry about running your organization while they help you boost your business through IT. The collaboration between your organization and an MSP firm will simply provide you with stability and reliability in your network.