Tips for Small Businesses That Want to Use Automatic Speech Recognition (Infographic)

Automatic speech recognition technology (ASR) and its complementary technology known as IVR (interactive voice response) are both systems you’ve almost certainly used before in a personal or business context.

Apple Siri

These are the technologies that allow machines to interact with humans through audio communication and anybody who’s ever used an automated telephone customer service system, a voice powered text editing program or a smartphone interface like Siri on the iPhone has come into contact with one kind of ASR/IVR software or another.

The possible business applications of these systems are numerous and your company could definitely benefit from using ASR technology in a number of contexts.…

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Is Your Growing Business Secure? 5 Tips for Keeping Your Customers’ Trust

As your small business gains momentum, you’ll undoubtedly juggle countless tasks at once, so when it comes to data security, it’s easy to put it on the back burner. But the fact is that if you suffer a data breach, the costs could include customer erosion, financial losses, and regulatory fines. The reputational fallout alone can continue months beyond the incident and translate into upwards of $5 million in losses.

Business IT security

And don’t think you get a free pass on security simply because your business isn’t large or well known. According to Verizon’s 2013 Data Breach Investigation Report, 72 percent of data breaches affect small businesses, making it clear that cybercriminals and automated attacks don’t discriminate on company size.…

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7 Strategies for Coming Up With Your Best Ideas Yet

With so much emphasis being placed on new technology, it’s easy to forget about the one thing that got you where you are today – and I’m not talking about your innovation, willpower, or proven track record. I’m talking about your brain.

Finding business ideas

Your ability to think on your feet and make informed decisions has helped you become a true expert in your field. But as you move up the corporate ladder, you can become further and further removed from the heart of your business – so much so that it can affect the way you think about it.

In my industry, for example, conventional wisdom told us that people wanted to see a storage unit before renting it.…

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How to Avoid Killing Good Email Design with These Five Campaign Enemies

Email marketing campaigns are a delicate balance of different factors interacting in just the right way to create what is an overall smooth flowing campaign. Because of this, numerous little factors, some of which can even be hard to identify, will influence if your campaign runs smoothly or suddenly fails in some way that causes drops in beneficial metrics.

Good email design tips

In order to minimize this risk, you need a hit list of the most problematic elements that are likely to screw your campaign up, so you can get rid of them in advance.

Luckily, this post is dedicated to giving you a quick and easy to follow “public enemies” list of the worst and most common offenders you’re likely to meet, described as actual characters.…

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The Greatest Leadership Trait? Being Authentic

Do you remember how leaders used to be? They were patriarchal, unquestioned and respected (or feared) by their workforce merely because of their position. As time passed and society changed, the most admired leaders were those deemed to be charismatic. Great leaders needed strong personalities.

More recently, there has been another shift. These days, there’s a call for leaders with strong emotional intelligence. Leaders now need also to be genuine. They need to be authentic. But what does this mean? And how can you, as a leader, be authentic?

Authentic business leader

Listen

If you genuinely listen to your people, three things happen. Firstly, you get important insight into what the key issues (and best ideas) for your business are.…

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CEOs: Meet and Connect with Jon Miller

The month long celebrations of the 1 year anniversary of The Made in NY Media Center by IFP are truly starting off in style. Members of the Media center will get a chance to meet Jon Miller, former AOL/Time Warner Chairman.

Face to Face with Success contest by Made in New York Media Center by IFP

The Media Center is a space where you can find dedicated desk space and opportunities for business development and mentorship. It also provides members with a platform to connect with other entrepreneurs, technologists, storytellers and visionaries.

This 20,000-square-foot facility is located on the ground floor of 30 John Street in DUMBO at the intersection of John and Jay Street. It features co-working spaces, a 72-seat screening room, an art gallery and café.…

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How to Raise Cash Without Calling Your Bank

There is no reason to assume that if a bank rejects your loan or credit application then there is no way for your small business to raise cash or find funding. In fact, there are a growing number of ways in which SMBs can secure crucial lines of credit and loans that provide vital flexibility.

Alternative ways for raising cash for business

Here are a few of the most popular and prevalent alternative finance options currently available:

1. Invoice factoring and discounting

If you’ve never heard of invoice factoring or discounting and you’re a small business boss then it is time to do a little research and find out how the option might work for you.…

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How Developers Can Secure Their Apps in the New Age of Web Attacks

Ensuring app security is a basic necessity for app development and should not be just an afterthought. Cyberattacks on mobile devices have increased over the years with the growing popularity of web-enabled smartphones and tablet computers. As such, there is a clear need to actively protect apps from various types of web attacks. There is also a need to be dynamic with the kind of security measures to implement. The nature of attacks has changed so the techniques and strategies used in the past may no longer be as effective at present.

There is no perfect formula in addressing the evolving nature of web attacks on apps.…

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5 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Nonprofit Partner

Glancing at most news reports doesn’t exactly inspire confidence on the subject of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Stories often detail companies cheating consumers, running scams, and fattening CEOs’ wallets while leaving employees and consumers to pick up the pieces.

corporate social responsibility

And sure, those companies exist. But the good news is that there are many businesses that build charity and social good into their core mission — and reap the cultural and financial rewards of doing so.

People are becoming more educated and increasingly compassionate about the world around them, which makes them more inclined to support companies that also aim to improve their communities.…

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Are you Making The Best Use of your Resources?

Small business, by definition, is something that is run out of minimal resources and budget. It is hence quintessential for these business owners to make the best use of what is available and thus extract the maximum mileage out of their resources. What this means is that SMBs get very little leeway when it comes to experimentation and exploration of new channels. This is a vicious cycle because without experimentation, you can never know what’s best and what should be avoided.

Resources at hand

So how do small business CEOs get out of this catch-22 situation? Here are some tips.

Validate Everything

If you are a family run business with years of operation under your belt, it is likely that a lot of money you spend on marketing and operations are already budgeted for.…

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