The Top Benefits of Using Proposal Management Software for Small Businesses

Small businesses are increasingly recognizing the advantages of leveraging technology to enhance their operational efficiency. Among the range of tools available, proposal management software stands out as a game-changer, particularly for sales and marketing departments. This innovative solution streamlines the complex process of proposal creation, fosters team collaboration, and improves the effectiveness of sales strategies. In this article, we delve into the multifaceted benefits of integrating proposal management software into business practices.

Streamlining the Proposal Creation Process With Management Software

The traditional approach to crafting proposals can be cumbersome, often involving disjointed communication and repetitive tasks. Proposal management software simplifies this by offering customizable templates and centralized resources, allowing businesses to generate professional proposals with speed and consistency. This level of automation not only saves time but also enhances the quality of the final document.

The drag-and-drop functionality common in such software minimizes the learning curve for users, making it accessible to teams with varying levels of technical skill. Furthermore, the ability to track changes and manage versions within the software eliminates the potential for errors that can occur when juggling multiple document iterations.

Additionally, proposal management tools often include integration capabilities with other business systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. This seamless integration ensures that data flows freely between systems, allowing for quick access to client information that can be used to personalize proposals.

Enhancing Collaboration and Reducing Silos

Siloed departments and a lack of collaboration can be major hurdles in small businesses, particularly when it comes to producing cohesive proposals. With the aid of proposal management software, multiple team members can work simultaneously on the same proposal. This concurrent editing feature ensures that ideas and feedback are integrated in real time, promoting a culture of teamwork and shared responsibility.

Through the software's communication tools, such as commenting and chat functions, team members can discuss and resolve issues swiftly without the need for cumbersome email threads or meetings. This facilitates not only faster proposal turnaround times but also better-informed contributions from various sectors of the business.

Permission settings within the software also allow for management oversight, with leaders able to control who can view or edit aspects of the proposal. This granularity ensures that sensitive information remains secure while still affording flexibility to the team during the proposal development process.

Tailoring Proposals Efficiently to Each Client With Software Tools

Business professional using desktop computer for proposal management software

Clients appreciate a personalized experience, and this extends to the proposals they receive. One of the standout features of proposal management software is its capacity to tailor documents to the unique needs and preferences of each client. Advanced software may even include artificial intelligence that suggests customizations based on previous successful proposals.

Having all client interactions and history in one place allows businesses to meticulously craft a proposal that speaks directly to the potential client's pain points and goals. Whether it is adjusting the service offering or changing the language to match the client's industry terminology, these adjustments can be made swiftly within the proposal management platform.

Furthermore, the data-driven insights provided by such software can guide small businesses in optimizing their proposals over time. By tracking which customizations resonate most with clients, businesses can refine their approach to maximize conversion rates.

Monitoring Proposal Performance and Improving Sales Strategies

Four employees reviewing information and data on proposal management software

A critical yet often overlooked benefit of proposal management solutions is its capacity for analytics and reporting. The ability to monitor proposal performance in real time enables small businesses to make informed decisions based on actionable data. Sales teams can quickly ascertain which parts of the proposal are engaging clients and which aspects may require adjustments for better performance.

This granular level of insight extends to understanding client behavior, such as how much time they spend on each section of the proposal. Such analytics can indicate which services are of most interest or which pricing models might be the most compelling.

With detailed reporting functionalities, businesses can also track win-loss ratios and identify patterns in successful proposals. These metrics are invaluable for refining sales strategies and for training new team members in best practices.

Overall, the adoption of proposal management software can yield transformative results for small businesses. By enhancing efficiency, collaboration, personalization, analytics, and security, these tools offer a competitive edge that can accelerate growth and foster sustainable success.

Amazon Retiring Its Security Robot for SMBs Only After 7 Mths of Its Launch

Amazon has decided to discontinue its Astro for Business security robot after only seven months since its launch. The reason behind this decision is Amazon's focus on its home version of Astro. The home version, introduced in 2021, offers features like home security, pet detection, message delivery, and a cargo bin capable of carrying up to 4.4 pounds. Amazon aims to bring world-class consumer robotics solutions to households and is excited about the in-home experiences they're developing for Astro.

Starting from September 25, the Astro for Business robots will no longer function. Amazon recommends recycling these security robots through their recycling program, which covers the shipping cost.

The business version of Astro was priced at $2,350 and came with three subscription plans: "Astro Secure," Ring alarms and motion detectors, and human agent support and monitoring. Effective immediately, companies will no longer be charged the "Astro Secure" subscription fee, and affected customers will receive a $300 credit to support a replacement solution for their workplace.

It's interesting to note that Amazon initially launched Astro for the home, but now they're repurposing it as a security robot for small- and medium-sized businesses. The business version is designed for spaces up to 5,000 square feet and targets retailers, manufacturers, and other industries. If you were considering Astro for your business, it's essential to explore alternative solutions given this discontinuation.

Besides Amazon's Astro Robot, the Knightscope K5, is an another autonomous security robot for both outdoor and indoor use. There are other notable security robots in the MARKET. Sunflower Labs' Beehive is a robot similar to a drone and has the ability to fly for up to 20 minutes. It offers live video streaming features.

Despite competetion, Amazon Astro is one of the most well-known security robots in the tech market, it's often considered the real-life version of Alexa.

Kore.ai Opens its Enterprise XO Platform to SMBs, Developer Community to Drive Conversational AI Innovation and Adoption

Global CAI leader’s no-code platform now accessible to SMBs and developers with seamless integration in a pay-as-you-go model

Kore.ai, the leader in enterprise conversational AI (CAI) software technology, today announced plans to widen the availability of its solution to companies of all sizes. The goal of the expansion is to empower small and medium businesses (SMBs), startups, entrepreneurs and the broader developer community by offering the platform’s do-it-yourself (DIY) functionalities for driving AI adoption.

As global enterprises continue their digital transformation journeys, enriching the customer, employee, and agent experience has become critical. With this initiative, developers and businesses around the world can now access Kore.ai’s enterprise-grade platform and self-service options without a big initial investment to build next-gen, AI-powered solutions for perpetual use (with predefined number of bot sessions). As the sessions quantitatively increase, the program is progressively priced. This will benefit millions of citizen developers and bot enthusiasts who can now configure virtual assistants, process assistants, and conversational digital and voice assistants on the platform with no coding.

“Kore.ai’s world-class platform technology, which is typically used by our large enterprise clients, is now accessible to everyone who wishes to explore the power of conversational AI. We are spurring innovation by empowering entrepreneurs who have bright ideas and want to test their proof-of-concepts,” said Raj Koneru, CEO and Founder of Kore.ai. “As we look to democratize access to Kore.ai’s sophisticated conversational AI-enabled solutions, it will allow even more companies to innovate and scale at their own pace.”

Kore.ai’s secure and scalable no-code platform, known as the Kore.ai Experience Optimization (XO) Platform, enables businesses to design, build, test and deploy sophisticated conversational virtual assistants and process apps with minimal technical know-how or support. This innovative approach reduces an organization’s reliance on skilled technical experts, accelerates implementation and improves efficiency.

"I am always keen to follow new tech innovations and learn about new technologies. I found the Kore.ai XO platform easy to follow and build intelligent solutions quickly,” said B2B tech influencer, Evan Kirstel. “The platform offers sophisticated AI capabilities such as NLP, diagration handling, and sentiment management. I liked their focus on conversation designer tools and auto dialog generation capability as it is helpful to business or non-technical users to build intelligent chatbots and maintain them easily. I see a great potential with the XO platform to automate a wide range of CX and EX use cases."

With built-in cutting-edge features, explainable AI, and a development forum, the platform fosters developer evangelism and democratizes CAI technology by offering the same enterprise-grade features that Fortune 2000 customers enjoy, to every individual or business in a pay-as-you-go model. Kore.ai has also formalized the learning process by offering certification through Kore.ai Academy, and a library of rich templates for new developers to learn things faster and accelerate their IVA development journey.

“Considering the pace at which virtual assistants and voice bots are being deployed, most applications that a consumer or an employee uses will, very soon, become conversational,” Koneru added. “We want to accelerate conversational AI’s adoption as the foundation for experience delivery across the board in all applications, even more so in the era of Metaverse and Omniverse where physical and virtual worlds will converge.”

Globally, more than 200 Fortune 2000 companies currently leverage the XO platform for delivering optimized experiences for over 100 million enterprise consumers and employees. Recently, Kore.ai was named the category leader in the first-ever Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Conversational AI Platforms (CAIP), and is looking to consolidate its market penetration by recruiting more channel partners across North America, EMEA, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

“We’re seeing strong demand for conversational AI across industries,” said Prasanna Kumar Arikala, CTO at Kore.ai. “Skills that involve AI technologies combined with the ability to solve real world problems using automatic code generating/low-code frameworks will be much appreciated in the coming days. Individuals looking to ride this wave of innovation and advance their career prospects should consider the Kore.ai XO platform for training, certifications, and build innovative solutions.”

About Kore.ai

Kore.ai is a global leader in enterprise conversational AI platforms and solutions helping enterprises automate voice and digital interactions to deliver extraordinary experiences for their customers, contact center agents and employees worldwide. More than 200 Fortune 2000 companies trust Kore.ai’s experience optimization (XO) platform and industry solutions to automate conversations and deliver extraordinary outcomes for over 100 million users worldwide. Kore.ai is recognized as an enterprise conversational AI platform market leader by top analysts. 

The company is headquartered in Orlando, Florida with offices in India, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the Middle East. Visit kore.ai to learn more.

DigitalOcean Launches Serverless Solution for Startups & SMBs

New offering enables developers to build applications without having to manage cloud infrastructure

According to IDC’s IaaSView buyer survey, 25% of cloud IaaS buyers intend to utilize serverless functions in the next 12 months

DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DOCN), the cloud for developers, startups and SMBs, today announced the launch of its new serverless solution, DigitalOcean Functions. DigitalOcean Functions will enable fast, scalable and cost-effective compute solutions that will allow small businesses and startups to build quickly, scale automatically, and save costs by eliminating the need to maintain and provision their own servers.

“Serverless functions have been one of our most common customer requests,” says Gabe Monroy, Chief Product Officer of DigitalOcean. “That's why last year we acquired Nimbella, a leading serverless platform, and have been focused on seamless integration with our cloud. DigitalOcean Functions will allow builders to spend less time maintaining their infrastructure and more time creating and scaling software that changes the world.”

Despite the proliferation of cloud computing in recent years, developers — particularly those in small businesses and startups — often complain about the considerable effort and cost involved in provisioning and scaling server infrastructure. DigitalOcean Functions will enable developers to build or expand their apps quickly without needing to manage the underlying infrastructure. Instead, applications will be able to scale automatically and instantly based on demand, making the solution ideal for unpredictable workloads.

According to IDC’s IaaSView buyer survey, 25% of cloud IaaS buyers intend to utilize serverless functions in the next 12 months — one of the highest rates of planned adoption compared to other adjacent cloud services. DigitalOcean Functions is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of individual developers and businesses by providing:

• A unified and integrated experience for apps that require long-running servers and on-demand functions
• A developer console to test functions prior to pushing to production
• Seamless integration with DigitalOcean Managed Databases
• Support for common languages and runtimes

“DigitalOcean Functions is a great blend of flexibility and ease of use that allows my team to keep all projects under one provider,” says Jonathan Hsu, Director of Customer Success at Zerion Software. “It enables us to quickly add serverless APIs to our website resulting in increased team productivity and faster time to market.”

"By adding native serverless tools and functions to its compute portfolio, DigitalOcean can begin to capitalize on this growing demand from IaaS buyers,” says Andrew Smith, research manager, Cloud Infrastructure Services at IDC. “The central tenet of DigitalOcean Functions is simplicity — in pricing, deployment, utilization and integration with other DigitalOcean services such as App Platform and Managed Databases. This simplicity should appeal well to DigitalOcean’s core customer base, including developers, startups, and SMBs looking to utilize serverless computing in order to abstract their infrastructure resources and focus on modernizing their applications and workloads.”

DigitalOcean Functions is available now in all DigitalOcean data center regions. Read more about pricing and availability here.

About DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean simplifies cloud computing so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. With its mission-critical infrastructure and fully managed offerings, DigitalOcean helps developers, startups and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) rapidly build, deploy and scale applications to accelerate innovation and increase productivity and agility. DigitalOcean combines the power of simplicity, community, open source and customer support so customers can spend less time managing their infrastructure and more time building innovative applications that drive business growth. For more information, visit www.digitalocean.com or follow @digitalocean on Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements may be identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “anticipate,” “enable,” “expect,” “will,” “believe,” “continue” and other similar terms and phrases. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements, including those factors contained in the “Risk Factors” section of our SEC filings. It is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. The results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur

Biz2Credit to Invest USD100 Million in India Over Next 5 Years

Biz2Credit, provider of an online marketplace for small business funding, eyeing expansion in India by making an investment of USD100 million over the next 5 years. The company has clocked a significant growth in business in India in the last few months with a lot of new client wins. Thus, seeing this potential of the Indian market, the firm is poised for even a greater leap and investing hugely in operations in India. The investment will be spent mainly in R&D, operations, and building the workforce. The company is bringing a lot of new employment opportunities for the young graduates in the country in both technical and service-based roles.

Biz2Credit was founded in 2007 and is backed by Nexus Venture Partners. Since its inception, Biz2Credit has become the leading online marketplace for small business funding, having arranged more than $8 billion in small business funding for thousands of companies throughout the U.S. Biz2Credit is expanding its industry-leading technology in custom digital platform solutions for leading banks and other financial institutions, investors and service providers in the U.S., India, Australia, and Canada.

Biz2Credit is the company behind Biz2X, a global SaaS platform that enables financial institutions to provide a customized online lending experience for their small and midsize business customers. The flagship Biz2X platform has been completely conceptualized, designed and developed in India and is the epitome of “Make in India” in the global market. Recently, the company has expanded its footprint in Singapore and Dubai and signed contracts with leading Banks in both countries.

Commenting on this big announcement, Mr. Rohit Arora, CEO & Co-Founder, Biz2Credit said,” We are delighted to see such massive growth in our business in India, this gives us the hope to further invest in Indian operations. Despite the uncertainties that two waves of the Coronavirus pandemic unleashed, we have clocked a massive growth in the revenue with 15-plus new client wins and eyeing a greater leap in the next 10-12 months. He further added, “I want to applaud the government’s initiatives for bringing ample of new opportunities for the Fintech sector which gives the sector a quantum leap. The fintech business model is now working with a remarkable and consistent framework that enables entrepreneurs, business owners, proprietors, and even banks and NBFCs to go through huge information and make better choices in their businesses.”

Adding to the announcement, Mr. Vineet Tyagi, Global CTO and Country Head, Biz2Credit India said, “The Indian market holds immense potential for Fintech companies like ours and it is extremely important for our next phase of growth. We at Biz2Credit support the government's mission of the Make in India program by making huge investments in Indian talent and portraying India as a hub of R&D on the global front.” He further added, “Our employees are our greatest asset, as we are looking for a multifold growth in the coming 10-12 months, we are aggressively hiring for both service-based and technical profiles to strengthen our white-labeled platform.

About Biz2Credit

Biz2Credit is a digital-first provider of small business funding. Biz2Credit leverages data, cash flow insights, and the latest technology to give business owners an automated small business funding platform. Since its inception, Biz2Credit has been the best place for small businesses to get funding online. With over 350 employees globally, our team – made up of top-notch engineers, marketers and data scientists – is building the next generation in business lending solutions.

Paytm Offering Loan of 2 Lakhs in Just 2-Minutes, Here's The Whole Process

Paytm has started a new facility to give instant personal loans to people a few months back. With this, some special customers of Paytm are given an instant loan up to 2 lakh rupees.

It often happens that you suddenly need money. At this time, if you apply for a loan in the bank, then it takes a lot of time to complete the process. Along with this, many such documents are sought, which you are not able to fulfill. If such a situation comes with you, then Paytm can be a good option for you, because now you can also take a loan from the Paytm with which you were paying the bill.

A few months ago, Paytm has started a new facility to give instant personal loans to people. With this, some special customers of Paytm are given an instant loan of up to 2 lakh rupees, the special thing of which is that you do not have to wait much for this loan. If you are eligible for a loan, then you get a loan of up to two lakh rupees in a few minutes. In such a situation, you know how you can take a loan and what is the whole process of it?

Complete online service

In this Paytm loan, the entire process is done online. You do not have to go to any bank etc. to take a loan.

The special thing is that the entire process of taking a loan is completed in 2 minutes and within two minutes the money is transferred to your account.

You can take advantage of this service of Paytm on National Holiday and Sunday also on holiday, i.e. it can be availed on any day and any time.

Who are eligible ?

This new instant loan is available to job seekers, small business owners and professionals. In this, the loan is given based on your credit score.

Also, this loan of Paytm has to be repaid in 18-36 months and you can pay accordingly. The company has tied up with many NBFCs and banks to provide this facility and you can manage the entire account from the Paytm app.

How to take the loan?

If you also want to take a loan through Paytm, then you will have to complete the further process by going to the Financial Services section of the Paytm app and then clicking on the Personal Loans tab.

After this, you have to give the requested information and your eligibility will be seen and after that money will be transferred to your account.

Avail Funds for Small Business with a Business Loan from Ziploan

MSMEs contribute to a great extent when it comes to the GDP of the nation and to assist these micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), the government of India had declared a Rs. 3 lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for small and medium sized enterprises under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package which is valid till March 21, 2021. Moreover, MSMEs who are looking for an MSME loan can also avail the same from Ziploan.

Ziploan always believes in encouraging and motivating MSME organizations to step forward and contribute to the nation, and with the help of Ziploan business loan, it becomes quite quick as well as hassle-free to boost up the slow-moving business.

Ziploan offer MSME loan up to Rs. 7.5 lakh in order to meet the financial requirements of the business owners. Business owners can avail an unsecured MSME loan without any collateral in just 3 days* once they submit all the required documents online.
 
Go on to read about business loan for SMEs.

Easy application and quick disbursal process

MSME owners who are looking to avail a business loan can apply for it online through the Ziploan website or even through the mobile loan app in order to avoid any delays. All they need to do is:

 

• Fill the business loan form with the basic details
• Upload all the relevant documents
• Get a business loan approval and a loan disbursal within 3 days* (Moreover, Ziploan also offer same-day approvals along with the disbursals within three days after the documents are submitted and verified).

Once Ziploan completes the basic eligibility and credit checks, the online business loan is disbursed directly to the business owner’s bank account, so that he/she can use it for various purpose like in the event of an emergency, or for a big project, etc.

Small business loan of up to Rs. 7.5 lakh

While looking for a business growth or expansion, revamping the existing business in some form or the other is also an option. For instance, investing in getting a larger customer base, buy new equipments, manage cash flow etc.
 
All of these initiatives need funds, and with Ziploan MSME Loan, availing a business loan up to 7.5 lacs is possible, even without any collateral. These unsecured business loan help businesses in order to meet their various expenses, and meet various capital requirements.

Variable tenure for easy repayment

To make sure that the repayment does not become a burden, Ziploan repayment tenure starts from 12 months to 36 months. And hence, a business owner gets much time to repay the MSME loan amount. For financial planning, business owners can also make use of Ziploan business loan EMI calculator and plan for future. Ziploan EMI calculator is very easy and simple to use. Simply enter the loan amount, tenure, business loan interest rate, and the business owner will easily know how much EMI he has to pay.

Moreover, Ziploan offer MSME loans at no prepayment charges once the business owner has paid the first 6 EMIs (excluding pre-EMI).

Simple eligibility and minimal documentation

Ziploan provides business loans on simple and easy to meet eligibility terms. As per Ziploan business loan eligibility criteria, a business owner can obtain a business loan if:
 

• Is aged between 23 and 65 years
• Business vintage of 2 years
• Zipscore of minimum 750
• ITR of last 2 years

 
The business loan eligibility terms needs to be met in order to secure a small business loan for a business venture which is a quite hassle-free as well.
 
To avail MSME loan, business owners need to submit a very minimal set of documents which includes the following:
 

• Identity proof
• Address proof
• Financial documents
• Business ownership proof

Report: 51% of Amazon Sellers Announce Higher 2020 Sales Due to COVID-19

In its annual survey of nearly 5,000 Amazon entrepreneurs, brands, and businesses, Jungle Scout explores the challenges, strategies, and ecommerce investments of Amazon sellers in 2021.

In its annual survey of nearly 5,000 Amazon entrepreneurs, brands, and businesses, Jungle Scout explores the challenges, strategies, and ecommerce investments of Amazon sellers in 2021.

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jungle Scout, the leading all-in-one platform for Amazon sellers, today released the results of its survey of nearly 5,000 entrepreneurs, brands, and businesses on Amazon. The 2021 State of the Amazon Seller Report reveals that more than half of Amazon sellers saw increased sales in 2020 during and because of COVID-19.

Amazon's net sales from third-party sellers grew 57% year-over-year in 2020, heavily contributing to Amazon's $386 billion annual revenue. The report explores these sellers' diverse business strategies, including their challenges, revenue, and ecommerce growth plans for 2021.

Key insights include:

1. COVID-19 contributed to Amazon sellers' revenue in 2020.

• 51% of Amazon sellers say their sales increased during and/or because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 44% said their businesses have performed better than expected because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. 85% of Amazon sellers are profitable going into 2021.

• 62% said their profits increased during 2020.

3. Ecommerce expansion is top priority for Amazon sellers in 2021.

• 96% plan to expand their Amazon businesses in 2021.
• 39% are considering selling on Walmart.com in 2021, and many are exploring Shopify, Instagram, Target, and other platforms.

4. Sellers continue to invest in Amazon — but they have concerns.

• 66% are concerned about increased competition driving prices down.
• Amazon's ad business is booming, but it's costing sellers; 62% are concerned about increasing ad costs on Amazon.

"The past year has emphasized the staying power of ecommerce, with Amazon continuing to lead the charge. And Amazon's third-party sellers are essential to this success and growth," said Greg Mercer, founder and CEO of Jungle Scout. "As ecommerce becomes a more fundamental part of consumers' lives, it also becomes more competitive for the brands and businesses that leverage its reach."

About the Survey

Between Dec. 1-28, 2020, Jungle Scout surveyed 4,864 Amazon sellers, including prospective and former sellers. Respondents represent 70 countries, 17 Amazon marketplaces, and all relevant Amazon product categories. They are ages 18 to 80+, as well as all genders and levels of education. See full report for more details.

About Jungle Scout

Jungle Scout is the leading all-in-one tool for selling on Amazon. Founded in 2015 as the first Amazon product research tool, Jungle Scout today features a full suite of best-in-class business management solutions and powerful market intelligence resources to help entrepreneurs and brands manage their ecommerce businesses. Jungle Scout is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and supports nine global Amazon marketplaces. Read more at www.junglescout.com.

Codleo Consulting Launches 'ProjecLeo' An Exclusive Cloud based Project Management App for SMBs

Codleo Consulting launches its exclusive Cloud based Project Management App for SMBs – ProjecLeo

New Delhi, November 2020: Codleo Consulting, one of the most trusted Indian IT companies with global footprints has recently launched ProjecLeo, an exclusive project management app to provide impeccable management practices for businesses to achieve specific goals in a specified timeline. It has powerful project planning and scheduling features with collaboration tools for teams. Also equipped with user friendly task management & time logs, to automate and streamline the essential business processes for enhanced operational efficiency.

Automating business processes is essential for strategic business control and agility. Through the ProjecLeo app, Codleo Consulting strives to provide team members more control towards task management and increased visibility across the entire organization. It allows business owners or project managers to create to-do lists, manage deadlines, and update the team automatically.

Commenting on the launch of the app, RS Maan- GlobalChief Revenue Officer of Codleo Consulting said, "Projecleo is intuitive and well-designed, it covers all the needed functions that are most compatible for Project Management. It has all the functionality you need for time tracking and project management. The app itself is built on Salesforce with a rich offering of all the most-used elements of project management, and is very easy to use."

"We walked through over many project management software solutions to find tools that have a feature set specifically designed to work for small businesses. The Gantt chart, task scheduling and time logs are our best to best elements as these provide solutions to long-held problems for the team, around visibility and scheduling. If you're looking for an affordable native-salesforce project management tool you should definitely consider Projecleo", he added.

Effective and clear communication works significantly in strengthening the connections of a company with its people and other stakeholders. The newly launched project management app sets clear channels of communication to help the team focus on their targets and ways for moving ahead. With state-of-the-art features, the app updates project plans automatically in real-time and allows the team members to create their own project templates.

KEY FEATURES OF THE APP:

·         Real-time dashboards for project tracking

·         Gantt Charting to illustrate project planning and scheduling

·         Online planning to create and share important plant for multiple team members viewing

·         Scheduling to manage workload across multiple projects

·         Task Listsfor easy task management

·         Collaboration for easy discussion of tasks through universal sharing

·         Resource management to provide easy resource allocation tools

·         Task management to help the team members manage and track the progress of their own tasks

·         Built on Cloud based Salesforce Platform with Best AI and Analytics with low Code & Drag & Drop features

·         Mobile App

The app has 3 versions and is specially priced at USD $7 per month for SMB's. Plus, it is available at a discounted price for non - profits and educational institutions, on the Salesforce App Exchange.

About Codleo Consulting

Codleo Consulting is one of the most trusted IT companies based in New Delhi. It brings together a broad range of services within the areas of CRM, Digital Marketing, and Marketing automation. They believe in innovation and problem solving, committed to helping companies of all sizes, across many industries, around the world in order to achieve the best results in their businesses.

Codleo Consulting has established a global presence in international countries including Canada, Australia, and the United States. With state-of-the-art applications and services, it is also planning to establish a new Global Delivery Centre of 250 seats in Hyderabad, by the end of 2021. 

SocialPilot Grants Rs 1 Crore to Small Businesses amid Covid-19 Outbreak

SocialPilot offered grants worth Rs.1 crore to over 1,400 small and medium businesses since March 2020

Small businesses are financially more fragile than larger companies in times of crisis. The Covid-19 outbreak has hardly spared any business, with small companies being affected the most. Additionally, reverse migration of employees has added more miseries to such businesses.

To address the issues faced by small businesses, several companies have come forward to help these small businesses increase their productivity and skills by offering free tools, services, and products. 

However, it is not just large corporations that have tapped their cash coffers; there are a few smaller companies as well that have stepped up to help other small businesses during these testing times. SocialPilot is one such company that decided to help out. 

SocialPilot offered grants cumulating to around Rs.1 crore to over 1,400 small and medium businesses since March 2020 to help companies market and sell their products and services online since the offline economy came to a sudden halt.

SocialPilot is a social media marketing product that has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in India. Although investment in social media tools amid the COVID-19 outbreak is a challenging task for small businesses, SocialPilot made this possible by offering grants to all qualifying small businesses, not-for-profit organizations, bloggers, and aspiring individuals. After this offer, businesses have changed their perspective on e-commerce and social media marketing, explains Jimit Bagadiya, co-founder and CEO at SocialPilot. 

Sharing his thoughts, Tejas Mehta, co-founder at SocialPilot said, “Traditional businesses who did not have a presence online realized that they need to do something online. We encouraged people who were not active online to take the first steps in leveraging social media as a marketing channel, and hence they were able to get traction to their online stores.” He further adds,” Businesses don’t grow in isolation and we believe in mutual growth. This has been our core belief since our inception.”

India’s SaaS revenue has reached $3.5 billion as of FY 2020, growing at 30% CAGR, with 75% of it coming from global sales, according to a report by The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). North America is the largest SaaS market accounting for almost 60% of the SaaS spend. India, as a market, has been growing at unprecedented rates as the younger generation takes the digital-first approach in the traditional as well as modern businesses. 

SocialPilot is a social media management tool that helps small businesses and agencies manage social media publishing, analytics, social media calendar, and engagement. SocialPilot was the first publishing platform to add TikTok and Facebook Boosted Posts as a part of the publishing platform. SocialPilot has been consistently ranked as a segment leader by Gartner, Capterra, G2, GetApp, and others. 

The company was bootstrapped by Jimit Bagadiya and Tejas Mehta in 2014 to increase the efficiency in social media marketing. In addition to Ahmedabad, SocialPilot has a presence in California, New York, and Kentucky. The company caters to over 150,000 users (5,000 customers) across the globe. SocialPilot’s niche has been in Social Media Analytics, Social Media Scheduling, and Marketing, Social Inbox, Bulk Scheduling, Client Management, and Social Media Calendar. 

Amazon to Invest $1 Bn in Digitising Indian SMBs: Jeff Bezos

Amazon.com Inc chief Jeff Bezos on Wednesday announced USD 1 billion (over Rs 7,000 crore) investment in India to help bring small and medium businesses online and committed to exporting USD 10 billion worth of India-made goods by 2025.

Before this, the online retail giant had committed USD 5.5 billion investments in India - Amazon's most important market outside of the US and a key growth driver.

We are committed to being a long-term partner of India. And actions speak louder than words, he said.

"Over the next five years, Amazon will invest an incremental USD 1 billion to digitise micro and small businesses... across India, helping them reach more customers than ever before. This initiative will use Amazon's global footprint to create USD 10 billion in India exports by 2025," he said.

He added that part of this goal is to ensure that more people can participate in the prosperity of India. "We are making this announcement now because it is working... When something works you should double down on it. And that is why we are doing it."

Amazon hopes that this investment will "bring millions of more people into the future prosperity of India and at the same time expose the world to the 'Make in India' products that represent India's rich, diverse culture."

The company had previously said it expected e-commerce exports from India to reach USD 5 billion by 2023 under its global selling programme.

Bezos, who began a three-day visit to India on Tuesday by visiting Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat here, was speaking at the SMBhav summit - an Amazon India gathering for small and medium businesses.

"The 21st century is going to be the Indian century," the Amazon founder said, adding: "This country has something special: its dynamism. I also predict that the most important alliance in the 21st century will be between India and the United States."

Bezos is expected to meet top government functionaries and business leaders during the trip.

His visit has been marked by Competition Commission of India initiating a formal investigation into alleged deep discounts, preferential listing and exclusionary tactics adopted by Amazon and Flipkart, and small store owners demonstrating on the streets against online retailers driving them out of business by offering sharply discounted products.

The Confederation of All India Traders, an association of about seven crore brick-and-mortar retailers, has said it will protest across 300 cities during his visit.

Last year, the government had tightened rules for e-commerce marketplaces with foreign investment. These rules barred such platforms from offering products of sellers in which they hold a stake and banned exclusive marketing arrangements among other clauses. Following this, Amazon restructured its joint ventures to ensure compliance.

Bezos is likely to take up these issues in his various meetings with government officials.

Despite huge losses, Amazon has been pumping millions of dollars across various operations like marketplace, payments, infrastructure and supply chain management as well as marketing and promotion as it looks to strengthen its position in the fledgling Indian e-commerce market.

In December last year, Amazon invested over Rs 1,700 crore into its payments and wholesale business units in India, while in October it had infused over Rs 4,400 crore (more than USD 600 million) in its various units in India, including marketplace and food retail.

Bezos last visited India in 2014 when he presented Amazon's Indian unit with a giant cheque for USD 2 billion.

Since then, Amazon has pledged a further USD 3.5 billion to expand in the country and the USD 1 billion investment announced Wednesday would take the total committed investment to USD 6.5 billion.

The USD 1 billion investment would be to digitise 10 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and traders across India, including manufacturers, resellers, local offline shops, and brands.

As part of this effort, Amazon will establish 100 Digital Haats in cities and villages throughout India.

"Today, there are more than 5,50,000 sellers on the Amazon India marketplace and more than 60,000 Indian manufacturers and brands are exporting their 'Make in India' products to customers worldwide on Amazon," as per a company statement on the event.

"With today's announcement, Amazon will help Indian MSMEs grow their cumulative exports to USD 10 billion by 2025 through the Amazon Global Selling program, which enables businesses to sell on Amazon marketplaces globally."

The Digital Haats will provide services like e-commerce onboarding, imaging and cataloguing, warehouse space, logistics, digital marketing, and compliance. Digital Haats will be in local neighbourhoods and available to MSMEs irrespective of their association with Amazon.

"The micro, small and medium-size businesses selling on Amazon.in are located across the country including Tier 2 and 3 cities, where they are generating jobs and transforming the retail landscape of the country," the statement added.

According to a report, India is among the fastest growing markets for the e-commerce sector. Revenue from the sector is expected to increase to USD 120 billion in 2020 from USD 39 billion in 2017, growing at an annual rate of 51 per cent.

Competition in the sector is also set to intensify as India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has announced plans to launch his own e-commerce venture.

Older PCs can Double Productivity Losses of SMBs in India - Microsoft study

• PCs that are over 4 years old have 3.2X likely chance to be repaired resulting in 132 hours of productive time lost which is 2.2X of newer PCs 


• SMBs keen to make the shift to Windows 10 for elevating business growth, improving workforce productivity and reducing operational costs

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India with PCs that are more than four years old and running older operating systems can experience more than double productivity losses as compared to newer PCs. Not just work efficiencies, older PCs expose organizations to security vulnerabilities and IT threats. Nearly 43% SMBs still own PCs that are more than four years old and are running older operating systems.

These findings were revealed in the latest Microsoft study in partnership with global SMB IT market research and analyst organization TechAisle, which polled almost 2,000 SMBs across Asia Pacific.



SMBs that have already embraced modern workplace strategy have experienced higher productivity, reduced costs, and enhanced security. 95% of the SMBs surveyed agreed that adopting new PCs has reduced overall maintenance costs and 83% of them has seen higher productivity benefits.



Farhana Haque, Group Director – Devices, Microsoft India said, “Technology can be a real enabler for businesses, both small and large, and SMBs need to recognise the value that IT investment can bring to their present and future growth. SMBs employ over 110 million people in India, significantly contributing to India’s economic growth. Microsoft is helping SMBs in India realise their ambitions and succeed in this competitive marketplace.”

According to the study, the continued delay in SMBs’ adoption of newer technological infrastructure across business functions, was due to factors such as perceived app incompatibility and high costs associated with acquiring and maintaining new IT hardware and software. Nearly two-thirds of SMBs surveyed (66%) said they did not have a PC refresh policy nor were they actively pursuing it.

However, the reality is that the lack of a strategic PC refresh policy can result in greater repercussions in the long run. There is a 3.8 times higher chance of old PCs requiring repairs, which can result in at least 132 hours’ worth of productive time lost. 

Ways to narrow the technology adoption gap include cloud adoption and Windows-as-a-Service. SMBs can refresh their older PCs as Windows-as-a-Service provides security patches and regular OS updates for optimized use. Concerns over app compatibility are addressed with Windows 10, the most app-compatible version of Windows-to-date with best practices including app telemetry, ISV partnerships for diagnostic data and troubleshooting as well as looping feedback cycles.  With the upcoming Windows 7 End of Support, SMBs have to make their shift towards newer PCs and operating systems as users will no longer receive security updates or support for PCs running on Windows 7. This includes new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, and online technical content updates. 

Facebook to Support Indian SMBs by Tying up with VC Funds

Facebook India has announced that it will support the growth of the small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India by collaborating with venture capital funds and support startups/SMBs they invest in. Facebook will work with these VC funds with the aim of skilling and mentoring the brands by sharing insights proven solutions, playbooks, among other key learnings.

The VC Brand Incubator Programme will be the first in a series of programmes by Facebook that will be geared towards laying a strong foundation for SMB growth in India by providing them with timely skill and guidance, enabling these businesses to hasten socio-economic growth of the country as well.

For the first edition, Facebook is working with Sauce.vc, a Mumbai-based early-stage venture capital fund that has partnered with startups in the food and beverages, personal care, apparel, and the lifestyle space.

The VC Brand Incubator program is a series of events that will be held across Mumbai, Bangalore and other key cities, where SMBs will be provided with skilling and training sessions by Facebook experts on a range of themes and topics that will help them build their brands on the digital medium more effectively.

Archana Vohra, director, small and medium businesses at Facebook India, said "With the VC Brand Incubator program we hope to unlock the potential of SMBs in India, enabling them to enhance their and the country's socio-economic growth."

"SMBs are the backbone of our economy and Facebook is the default destination for them to thrive and grow. Several SMBs are actively working towards creating a larger social change, and many are empowering women entrepreneurs and generating impact in tier-2 and tier-3 towns. Their seamless growth can lead to consistent job creation, adding to the GDP growth. Working with VC funds is crucial as it allows us to scale and support SMBs at an early-stage itself, fast-tracking their growth," said Vohra.

Manu Chandra, Founder, Sauce.vc said, “The VC Brand Incubator programme provides a much needed understanding of Facebook, its family of Apps, and the digital landscape. The entire consumer startup ecosystem benefits from these initiatives, both from a skill-development and a community-building perspective."

Airtel Launches New Digital Platform to Aid the Development of SMBs and Startups in the Country

Airtel Business, the B2B arm of Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecommunications service provider, has rolled out a first of its kind dedicated digital platform to serve the growing connectivity, communication and collaboration requirements of Emerging Businesses, including SMEs and Startups. The digital platform will offer solutions to emerging enterprises to enable ease of business and faster time to market.

With growing digitisation, emerging businesses are looking at connectivity solutions that are available/activated in quick time and are highly reliable and scalable as per their requirements. Airtel Business aims to address the needs of this segment with its wide product portfolio that is already serving some of the largest businesses in the country.

Airtel’s new digital platform will offer connectivity solutions to start with and will be integrated with more solutions periodically. Emerging businesses can now discover and buy connectivity plans in just three easy steps- (i) Select a plan most suited for them; (ii) Pin their location to check feasibility; (iii) Place an order. This eliminates multiple layers of traditional processes to offer a fast and convenient way to identify connectivity solutions bringing down the total time required to order and deploy a solution by up to 70%.

Ashok Ganapathy, Director & CEO, Airtel Business, said, “Emerging enterprises are a key growth driver for the economy. Airtel, with its nationwide reach and enterprise solutions, is uniquely positioned to address the needs of the segment. Our new digital platform will help the enterprises get quick and easy access to our connectivity solutions, resulting in a speedier deployment and business scale up for them.”

With Airtel’s wide portfolio of digital solutions offered to customers on an unmatched Global network, enterprises can digitize their operations and revamp their customer service delivery & experience.

Airtel’s recently launched innovative offering, ‘Start-up in a Box’ – is a one stop shop start-up kit offering end-to-end connectivity solutions enabling start-ups to get the entire bouquet of digital services from Airtel under one roof.

Airtel Business is today a leading ICT service provider in India and works with most corporates in the country including 70-80% of the tech start-ups in India as their most trusted partner. Offering cutting edge integrated solutions, superior customer service and unmatched global reach to enterprises across the country, it is also one of the fastest growing business in Airtel’s portfolio in the domestic market.

HeyBiz Offers Technology Support Services for SMBs

HeyBiz, a technology platform has launched Technology Support Services for Small and Medium Businesses through customised technology offerings.

HeyBiz takes small and medium business online to reach a wide range of customers in few easy steps. SMB’s can get their Website, Mobile App, Business Pages, and Payment gateway, Online Store designed and developed by HeyBiz Experts. It makes it easier for the customer to find businesses and easier for businesses to provide great services.

Once on the HeyBiz Platform, businesses can avail its customised services to further grow their digital presence. Service professionals cannot only increase their service requests but can also employ a whole host of services through HeyBiz to generate more requests, monitor their customers, create their brand and expand their businesses to next level. It’s a new way of doing businesses for the essential but often side-lined service professionals ranging from electricians plumbers carpenters, mobile and other gadget repair to home cleaners, pest control etc.

HeyBiz is here to grow your business by taking your business from few customers to thousands No matter where you are HeyBiz services will keep you connected to your customers and busy. HeyBiz has taken the reach of businesses to receive alerts through SMSs and emails as well. This means a SMBs can operate across platforms anyhow, anywhere and anytime!

Once on the HeyBiz platform, businesses can avail its customised services to further their digital presence. SMBs can add features like chat with customers to their ever growing digital footprint. Transparency is the key to business dealings and payment options and help SMBs growth to their full potential.
And this is not all; HeyBiz takes the services offered to the next generation with web based analytics to help plug the gaps between business expansion and online presence. HeyBiz will not only advise them on the ways and means of advertising through different channels for additional push.

HeyBiz is making #MadeInIndia into its by-line and #DigitalIndia into its purpose. #GoOnline is the new mantra of the day. But behind all the technology it is a simple idea - make service professionals more accessible to their customers and bring them from the back alleys to the mainstream. Like HeyBiz Founder, Bhartesh Chhibbar says,”…it is all about making businesses human…”

HeyBiz was launched in January 2015 and works in the hyperlocal space to connect local customers with local businesses via its Sales-Marketing-Support (SMS) mobile platform. HeyBiz has also raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from ShopClues in Dec 2015.