Archive for category: Business News

Zoom as the New Normal for Business Meetings during COVID-19

The world today is not like how it was before because the pandemic has affected global economies. It has resulted in millions of people, businesses, and the world as a whole is affected.

Therefore, Zoom, as the new normal for business meetings, has become very popular. Companies have the necessary tools for this, and it allows them to practice social distancing from each other. The stay-at-home orders to stop the spread of COVID-19 is not violated when they do these meetings via Zoom.

Learn more about this new normal right now.

Holding Zoom Meetings

To check that everyone in the meeting can catch up, it is essential to plan and organize the meeting before the scheduled date. Establishing acceptable practices beforehand saves the executives from any IT glitches that might occur. Having proper guidelines for the panel ensures that all participants know their role and what is expected. It is crucial for everyone to feel heard during the meeting. Not all people will be equally thrilled to express themselves during the session. Therefore, companies need to tell them when they can discuss a topic and when to stop.

You Can Innovate Zoom Meetings

Holding virtual meetings using Zoom has the main feature that lets you record meetings. Other online meeting advantages include real-time collaboration and automatic transcription. With the use of proper tools, a virtual meeting can become focused during a call. You must get innovative when holding online meetings and using these tools to make it better than face-to-face meetings. Exploring what virtual instruments can do is essential to see if these processes can be automated. Also, becoming more creative with collaborative features can lead to greater productivity during meetings.

Ask Thoughtful Questions

Make sure to prepare questions before the meeting starts. Asking thoughtful and relevant questions in the meeting cultivates ideas and better collaborations. Many people are hesitant to ask their questions virtually, so it can also be that they are asked through a chatbox, and a facilitator can submit the questions to the speaker. These questions will be addressed, but asking them during the meeting is even better.

Share Your Screen

With Zoom being widely used for video conferencing, the best feature it has is the screen-sharing function. There are moments when you would have to share slides for evaluation or see a document from the other person. It is safe to say that screen-sharing is for interactivity. This is important for a professional, virtual setting interaction.

People are visual, and it is important to share screens, especially when you work remotely from each other.

Follow Up

After the meeting, wait a few days, but the conference should still be fresh. Follow up with the people you met with during the Zoom conference. Is there a specific someone you want to talk to? Send a “thank you” to him or her saying that you enjoyed the meeting and you want to discuss something. This way, you can clarify whatever it is you wanted to ask them and get answers. It is also a way to express things that you were not able to during the meeting.

Fewer Speakers and More Moderator

If it is you who is holding the meeting, you should have everything ready and structured. However, if you want more participants, give a chance to everyone who wants to be part of the presentation. It is important to turn your meetings into working sessions where you may ask for feedback. It is better to let others speak and keep it engaging.

The moderator talks to the participants and directs them as well. They should lead the meeting so that everyone gets the most out of it. This can lead to more productivity and better understanding among participants.

Lockdowns Do Not Hinder Meetings

While organizations worldwide work remotely, online meetings take place in bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens. There can be unexpected interruptions from kids, spouses, and kids that can happen while holding virtual meetings. Instead of being treated as a disturbance, it must be seen as a chance to know more about their team and coworkers. Managers can consider having virtual happy hours to boost their morale during the pandemic. The lockdown can strengthen bonds within team members.

Zoom as the new normal is all over the business news when the pandemic started causing businesses to work from home and even shut down. It is an excellent solution so that life goes on.

Logging in to the Online World: Digital Banking Impacts SME’s Operations

The digital world is taking over amid the coronavirus pandemic. This is mainly because of the lockdown measures imposed to prevent the further spread of the virus. With this, people are opting to access digital platforms to accomplish many tasks and even banking transactions at the comfort of their homes.

Banking via digital platforms has become necessary nowadays as more and more financial institutions are improving their online portals to meet the demand. Indeed, banking online is consistent in many sectors today, including small and medium enterprises (SME).

Digital banking impacts SME’s operations, for sure, as adjustments were made to keep up with the pace of technological advancement. On the other hand, it provides enterprises numerous perks as well, such as convenience and efficiency.

Let us have a look at how digital banking impacts SMEs.

Payment Platform for SMEs and Customers

Digital banking impacts SME’s payment platforms. With an online portal, the customers of SMEs can settle their payments via digital banking, which is easy and quick. For example, when your customers buy an item from your physical or digital store, they can simply send the money via electronic transfer or even through quick response codes. With this, SMEs can improve its presence in the e-commerce industry, keeping up with the changing consumer behaviour.

In addition, payment via digital banking is seen, reducing the hassle of issuing a physical receipt, which sometimes gets lost. All these pieces of information—the amount of purchase, items bought, and data of the transaction, among others—are now available digitally and can be accessed anytime.

Setting Up Bank Accounts for SMEs Digitally

Digital banking impacts SME’s process of opening a bank account as well. It is much easier and quicker to open a bank account via digital platforms. Just make sure that you have all the requirements the bank is seeking. These are usually identification documents but may vary depending on the bank.

In addition, you can build up your SMEs savings account digitally. Such is a necessity to make sure that your firm earmarks a portion of its money for future spending or emergencies.

Moreover, you would need a bank account, so you can receive the payments of your customers, whether they are transmitted via checks or electronic money transfers. Having a bank account can help you better manage your finances in general.

Accessing Loans Via Digital Banking

According to studies, SMEs are finding it challenging to access loans or credit because of many reasons. These include high cost, low approval rate from financial institutions, and more. Lenders are usually hesitant to extend a borrowing to the SME sector, especially if it is a startup, because of concerns over profitability. After all, banks want someone who can pay their dues on time without problems.

The so-called credit gap is being addressed by financial technology (fintech), which is also a form of digital banking. The fintech firms are serving as alternative sources of financing for SMEs. They usually have fewer requirements compared to the banks, making loan approval easier on the part of SMEs.

Banks Taking Part in Improving SME Digitalization

The banks can further support the digital journey of the SME sector, apart from these firms accessing digital banking. This is to help them survive the major economic downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic. The banks should be able to lend a helping hand to the industry badly hit by the crisis.

Expanding the Coverage of Digital Banking

The banks can help the SMEs transition to a fully digital banking solution—and not just a bank account–to address many aspects of its operations. This is considered a huge help because many physical branches are closed now due to the lockdown measures. With this, the traditional access to finance is lessened; thus, people are leaning towards digital.

According to surveys and reports, there has been a significant increase in the number of average digital banking users and e-commerce customers in the past months. These figures are even expected to rise further even after the pandemic as the current health crisis shaped consumer behaviour already.

Planning and Forecasting Amid the Pandemic

The banks can assist the SMEs in coming up with forecasting tools via innovative digital solutions. Hopefully, this can help the SMEs monitor their cash flows, supply chains, and sales more accurately. With this in place, SMEs can better outline its long-term plan and strategy to survive the ongoing pandemic.

Providing Financial Literacy

It is important for banks to educate SMEs on financial literacy, especially when we are factoring in digital platforms. With financial literacy education, more SMEs will be encouraged to make a digital shift, which is more beneficial for them. It will also help promote financial inclusion.

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What are the Changes in Online Shopping Behavior Amid Pandemic?

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the quick shift towards digital as people are restricted to have physical interactions. With this, changes in online shopping behavior have been observed recently.

The claims of new online shopping behavior are supported by a survey conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The UN agency talked to 3,700 consumers in nine emerging and developed countries. These include Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland, and Turkey.

According to the survey, over half of the respondents are now doing their shopping online more frequently amid the pandemic. Besides, they are subscribing to the internet more to be updated about the news, health-related content, and entertainment.

It appears that the digital world is here to stay even after the pandemic. UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said that the changes in online shopping behavior would have lasting effects as the global economy is making its way toward recovery.

Also, the UNCTAD official stressed that the accelerated adoption of online shopping signals that the countries all over the world should transition to digital as well already.

Online Purchase Vs Consumer Spending

According to the survey, online purchases in the said countries increased by 6 to 10 percentage points in many product categories. UNCTAD surveyed with Netcomm Suisse eCommerce Association, Brazilian Network Information Center, and Inveon.

Online purchases for information and communication technology and electronic goods rose the highest with 10-percentage point gain. This was followed by pharmaceutical and health; and tools, gardening, and do-it-yourself products at 9 percentage points each.

Meanwhile, other products with significant increase amid the pandemic were education and online courses; home furniture and household products; and cosmetics and personal care.

On the other hand, the average online monthly spending per shopper dramatically decreased. It was noted that consumers from emerging and developed economies halted their big-ticket purchases amid a major economic downturn. This, as they focus their budget on the essentials first. It was expected because cash flows may be restrained amid high unemployment due to lockdown measures limiting business operations.

Spending on tourism and travel, such as hotel bookings and flight tickets, declined the most at 75 percent. This was followed by home furniture and household products at 53 percent; and information and communication technology and electronic goods at 48 percent. The following are the other items that saw a decline in monthly average spending:

• Fashion and accessories, 43 percent
• Tools, gardening, and do-it-yourself, 35 percent
• Cosmetics and personal care, 32 percent
• Education and online courses, 29 percent
• Digital entertainment, 28 percent
• Media and books, 27 percent,
• Pharmaceutical and health, 23 percent
• Agro foods and beverages, 11 percent

These are some of the changes in online shopping behavior that the survey noted.

Considering the Safety When Purchasing Online

Looking at online shopping behavior, it must be noted that people are buying via digital platforms to avoid getting infected with the coronavirus. Still, there are concerns if receiving a package from online purchases is considered safe.

While there are no conclusive findings yet, experts have been saying that the virus can live on surfaces of the package from three hours to three days. With this, the virus is not expected to survive during the time that package was being delivered. In addition, shipping conditions might also not be an ideal environment for the virus to thrive.

According to the Center for Disease Control, the spread of the virus from products or packaging has only a very low risk given the ambient temperatures.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization also put the public at ease by releasing a statement on the matter. The health agency said that it is safe to receive packages, even those coming from locations with reported coronavirus cases.

Panic Buying Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

During the beginning of the pandemic, consumer behavior drastically changed as all eyes focused on the essentials, as mentioned. With this, people began stocking up quickly with things like medical supplies, hand sanitizers, masks, and foods. The demand was so big that both physical and online stores were finding it difficult to provide the needed goods.

Panic buying as a reaction amid a crisis was expected. Experts said that people tend to try to find some control during an uncertain and risky situation. By doing so, they are seeking some relief, albeit temporary.

According to a consumer psychologist, panic buying is related to having the urge to be in control, doing something to benefit your own family, and having the need to feel like a smart shopper during a crisis.

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What to Use When Sending Money Overseas- Transferwise or Bank Transfer?

With international money transfer services, people are allowed to send funds across the world in an easier way for different reasons. It includes the following:

• Acquiring properties in another country
• Settling payments for tuition fees overseas
• Paying for mortgage liabilities in another country
• Investing funds overseas
• Paying for overseas holiday expenses
• Sending money to friends or family members in another country
• Paying for any type of bills overseas

For whatever reason, it is best for you to consider which way of sending money overseas suits you. You can transfer money through retail bank accounts, international money transfer operators, and foreign exchange brokers, among others.

As time passes by, technology advances and introduces new ways of transferring funds from country to country. Financial technology comes into the picture. It also now allows people to transfer money to the other side of the earth with just a few clicks. Among these financial technology firms, is Transferwise.

Now, the public has more options to send their money remittances. This article will discuss what platform is best for the clients: Transferwise or bank transfer?

Considering the Different Features Offered to Customers

When transmitting funds either through Transferwise or bank transfer, customers are looking into the different featured services. It allows them to maximize their user experience.

Transferwise is providing simple international money transfer service which incorporates digital capabilities. Its digital wallet called Borderless account allows money transfer for different currencies, including Euro, Singaporean dollars, United States dollar, and Australian dollars, among others. To sum it up, the app allows the following:

• International money transfer
• Borderless multi-currency receiving accounts
• Sending money via the email address
• The app can be downloaded on Android and Apple smartphones.

For bank transfers, the financial institutions use international wire transfers or the so-called telegraphic transfers. Under this scheme, there are no other services or purposes other than transferring money.

Ease of Accomplishing Transactions

While choosing between Transferwise or Bank Transfer, you would consider, of course, which is more convenient for you. After all, you want to be able to send money right away and without delay, especially if it is really urgent.

Transferwise was designed to allow users to register their account easily and quickly. In fact, identification verification in some countries is almost instant. In addition, the speed of transferring money is quick, even instantaneous for some locations. It has also a wide range of payment options.

In bank transfers, the situation differs depending on the relationship between the banks involved in the transaction.

Should the banks have a direct partnership, the following scenarios can happen:

1. The bank of the sender will debit the money transfer from the said party’s account.
2. The bank of the sender will credit the amount transmitted to the bank account of the recipient.
3. The bank of the recipient will then transfer the funds to the said party’s account.

If the banks do not have a direct relationship, the processing of the transaction will go as follows:

1. The bank of the sender will debit the money transfer from the said party’s account.
2. The sender’s banks will transmit the money to the recipient bank’s account via an intermediary bank.
3. The intermediary bank will then process the fund transfer from the bank of the sender to the bank of the receiving party with a cost.

The bank of the recipient will then credit the amount to the said party’s account.

With this, the process of money transfer can take five to seven business days, and even more.

Looking at Fees and Exchange Rates

Whether you are using Transferwise or bank transfer, you should opt to check their fees and exchange rates.

For Transferwise’ part, it offers a real-time exchange rate at the time you make your transaction. Because of this, you can already know the fees on top of the amount to be transferred. The way Transferwise sets up its fee structure is a little complex because the amount depends on the currencies you are sending to and from. The following is the breakdown of its fee structure:

• Simple international money transfer – 0.4 percent to 2 percent, depending on the currency and payment type
• Adding to Transferwise borderless account – 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent
• Converting between Borderless accounts – 0.3 percent to 0.6 percent
• Transferring money out of Borderless account – less than 0.1 percent on average

Meanwhile, bank transfers are considered more expensive because the usual markup on exchange rates is at 5 percent. Apart from this, they charge service fees of $10 to $25.

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Implement Effective Communication to Help Employees Waste Less Time

We, as an employee, we don’t give our 100 % at work, we waste almost 30-40% of the time even though we don’t want to. Sometimes we waste our time intentionally. Spending time can lead to less productive results. It can affect the growth rate of the company as well as the employees. Almost all of the human resource officers want to know how to make employees waste less time.

Why Employees Waste Their Time

There are different studies about this, which states the possible answers to why employees waste their time. To make this possible, you must first have to identify the leading causes behind the wasting of time by the employees. Many employees feel that their HR is not able to extract their best from them, which is almost 35% of their whole working time.

There are about 30% of employees who are unsatisfied with their work around while around 23% of employees are bored. Some employees think their working hours are too long and tiring, approximately 34%. Not getting any incentive or promotion is also one of the primary reasons accounting for 32% of the employees not being fully productive.

Additional to this, some employees think that their work will be wasted and won’t be considered and recognized. Digital distraction and social media addiction are also a common reason behind, the employees spending their time in the workplace or office.

How to Help Employees Waste Less Time

Now, we have answers due to various studies, which have been conducted by different statistical institutions and firms. Let’s discuss how to make employees waste less time.

• Conduct a healthy competition among the different groups of employees. According to a recent study, any game activates the subconscious mind of the employee’s perceptions of the employees. It will make them work more dedicatedly, and they will be more concentrated at their workplace or office. An incentive can be proposed as a reward for the winning group of employees.
• Give creative tasks to your employees as it can help them using their brains more efficiently. It will also help them in not getting bored with their work because there will be something in front of them to complete.
• Make some employees engaged in the work again. Some employees think they are cut off from their office, which makes their interest very low in their work. Re-engaging those employees will boost up the production rate of them. It will result in employees waste less time.
• Motivate those employees who are thinking that they are underpaid. Motivate them; appreciate them a small appreciation can make them more positive towards their work. It will make them more efficient in their work. Send me good thoughts and positive vibes, and to motivate them, you must have also been motivated.

Conclusion

The above-discussed tips are proven methods through various studies by using these methods. And applying these tips, you would surely be able to make your employees waste less time.