RSI Concepts, Author at RSI Concepts - Top IT Solution Provider Company in Dubai, UAE

April 6, 2023April 6, 2023

Top 5 CMS Platforms for Web Development in 2023

A CMS or content management system is a software application which allow users to create, edit and publish content to a website or web application. The CMS is basically a content management software designed for the regular users with limited programing knowledge and technical skills and it enables them to maintain, manage and update their websites, mobile applications, e-Commerce portal and other web-based applications. The content is stored in the database, the front-end is used to interact with the targeted audience and the backend or back office is designed for administrative operations. The content management system requires very less to moderate computer proficiency to operate. Therefore the CMS are very common and popular all around the world. Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE have also realized the importance of a dynamic website, which gives rise to the popularity of the CMS in the country. When it comes to choose a right CMS or content management system for your business needs, the business leaders, managers or decision makers can easily get overwhelmed with the wide variety of the CMS available in the market.

In this blog we will discuss top 5 CMS available in the market to help our audience take a better decision while selecting a content management system for their business needs.

Types of CMS Platforms: 1. WordPress

The WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world with running 43% of the entire world’s websites on WordPress content management system. One of the main reason of such a huge popularity is because the WordPress is an open-source platform and it offers almost 58,000 plugins which help you customize the design and features of your website.

Advantages of WordPress

It is free and offers tons of free themes and plugins to allow you to customize your website
You are absolutely free to monetize your website and earn money without any restriction
A huge online community is available for the WordPress which is very helpful
The WordPress offers a variety of SEO features and plugins to make your website SEO-Friendly
Technical knowledge or coding skills are not required to modify your website
You can download your website’s content in compatible formats to migrate it to other platforms

Disadvantages of WordPress

The hosting and domain name has to be setup before installing WordPress
The backups, security and other critical maintenance tasks are your responsibility
Too many plugins or conflicting plugins can cause performance issues

WordPress Pricing

The WordPress is absolutely free, however, hosting, theme or plugins you might use could cost you one time charges or regular subscription fees

Types of CMS Platforms:2. Joomla

The Joomla CMS is also an open-source and free-to-use platform. Although it is not as that popular as WordPress but it also offers tons of design templates and plugins which allow you to customize the website and features as per your needs and desires. The Joomla is also considered to be among the popular content management system with the market share of 1.72% is global market.

Advantages of Joomla

Joomla CMS offers great support for customization and offers a lot of flexibility
As it is an open-source platform so the online community is large and supportive
Although Joomla CMS is developers’ first choice but anyone can effectively operate it without requiring programing or coding knowledge and skills
It offers great extensions for sophisticated projects and offers support for customization
Same like WordPress the Joomla also offers e-Commerce extensions and supportive features

Disadvantages of Joomla

Same like WordPress the domain name and hosting has to be setup before installing Joomla
The main structure and core of the Joomla CMS is very complicated and require professional developers to make changes or for customization
Not as many plugins and theme templates are available as of WordPress and the compatibility issues between plugins and templates occur more often

Joomla Pricing

The Joomla is absolutely free, however, hosting, theme or plugins you might use could cost you one time charges or regular subscription fees

Types of CMS Platforms: 3. Drupal

The Drupal CMS is also an open-source and completely free content management system. It is more reliable, stable and flexible towards customization. It is a sophisticated framework and requires a professional developer to customize it, however, anyone without coding or programing language can also operate it effectively.Majorly it is used for the web sites with large data and content.

Advantages of Drupal

The Drupal CMS offers a wider range of support for the content type with flexible options
Same as WordPress or Joomla Plugins, there are a wide variety of free modules
As Drupal CMS is also an open-source so a great online community support is available
The Drupal CMS offers more control over the content you publish and how you publish it
It can support large data and content with sophisticated features with superior reliability
The Drupal offer great management and administrative features with simple user-friendly UI

Disadvantages of Drupal

The Drupal CMS is not as that friendly for the beginners, in fact only professional and skilled developers can and should customize it
Since the customization and the designing requires professional services, the Drupal CMS could be a bit expensive comparing to Joomla and WordPress

Drupal Pricing

The Drupal is absolutely free, however, hosting, theme or plugins you might use could cost you one time charges or regular subscription fees

Types of CMS Platforms: 4. HubSpot

The HubSpot or HubSpot CMS Hub is a great content management system which is specifically designed to enhance the marketing and business generation capabilities of a corporate website. It is not meant for individuals or bloggers, but it is a fully integrated package for the business owners and marketers. The HubSpot CMS Hub is a continuation of the HubSpot CRM, in fact is built on the CRM framework itself.

Advantages of HubSpot

A non-technical person can easily build and manage a website using HubSpot CMS Hub
It includes in-built marketing automation tools, SEO tools, integrated sales, service and operations modules
The HubSpot CMS Hub offers features to personalize the customer experience and ensures maximum customer satisfaction
The customization of the design template and the features is flexible and relatively easier
It comes with remarkable security features such as Global CDN, web-app Firewall and dedicated security team to support your security needs
The HubSpot CMS Hub can be integrated with other HubSpot business tools such as Emails marketing tools, CRM module, etc.

Disadvantages of HubSpot

The HubSpot CMS Hub doesn’t have a free content management system edition
It offers limited integration capabilities with third-party tools and systems

HubSpot Pricing

The HubSpot CMS Hub is a bit expensive tools with three packages, plans or tiers, the Starter which is USD 20$ per month, the Professional plan with USD 890$ per month and the final Enterprise plan which could cost you somewhere around USD 3,600$ per month.

Types of CMS Platforms: 5. Magento

Magento is one of the most powerful and capable content management system and it is developed by one of the largest software company in the world, Adobe. The Magento CMS offers great features, high-level customization, superior data handling capabilities and much more. The Magento CMS comes in two versions, the Magento Open-Source is a free version whereas Magento Commerce is the paid versions.

Advantages of Magento

Magento offers very flexible customization and it offers tons of third-party plugins/extensions
Magento Commerce CMS is designed to handle large quantity of data and content that is what makes it more suitable for e-Commerce and other such large websites
The Magento CMS can offer a variety of different payment gateway integration which enhances customer experience
The Magento CMS also offers better security features and allow you to install third-party plugins/extensions

Disadvantages of Magento

Since the Magento CMS requires a professional programmer or developer so its cost is very high
The complexity of the platform and the high price makes it less suitable for the beginners
The online community is relatively small, the support is less and sometimes confusing

Magento Pricing

The Magento CMS is very expensive and it’s pricing starts from USD 22,000$ which is difficult to bear for any beginner. However, established businesses and e-Commerce platforms prefer to choose.

Conclusion

Not everyone has the ability or professional skills to design and develop websites. But now a days a website is essential for any business, small or large. That is why a tool is developed which is called CMS or content management system, the CMS allow ordinary users or people without any technical competency to create, design, manage, update, and modify websites. The success of a website heavily rely on its CMS. However, being a business leader or a manager when it comes to choose a right content management system or CMS for your web development, one can easily get overwhelmed with the sheer number of different options available in the market. In this blog we have listed the world’s top 5 CMS and their pros and cons, this will help our audience to take the decision with more confidence and caution. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to choose a CMS or design a customized CMS system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: What is Continuous Performance Management? Complete Guide!

April 4, 2023

Government Digital Transformation: Implementation of Queue Management System

The Government of UAE and other local governments are proactively adopting to digital technologies and modern solution in fact the government’s vision is to completely eliminate the paper and go fully digital. For that the government of UAE and local governments have taken several initiatives, and established a framework for all government offices, ministries, and departments. The digital transformation is one of the several revolutionary steps taken by the UAE government to improve the service quality and increase the access to the ordinary citizens. We all knows that the government offices, ministries and departments are the busiest places with large footfall. The higher volume of visitors not only cause problems for the visitors but also for the staff. Therefore a solution is required to streamline the footfall and customer flow. The queue management system is a great tool to organize and manage the customer flow and customer experience, it also help reducing the workload of the employees and enhance their performance.

The UAE government and local governments also emphasizes on delivering excellent customer experience. The public also demand quality service and quicker delivery which put digital transformation at the top of the agenda for UAE and all local governments. The government departments and offices want to provide excellent customer services, comforting waiting experience and higher customer satisfaction. The large footfall is not the only problem, some offices and departments are also short on staff, some have multiple shifts and some have other limitations which are causing issues with adopting to modern queuing methods. However, a digital queue management system can be game changer, it can streamline customer flow, organize the queuing process and it can minimize the waiting time while improving customer waiting experience and employee performance at the same time. In this blog we will discuss how a queue management system can significantly enhance government’s digital transformation.

Implementation of Queue Management System

A queue management system is a digital solution based on software and hardware components. A standard queue management system consist of a core software application which is usually hosted on servers or cloud. There are dedicated user dashboards for different user groups such as service agents, administration, branch managers, etc. The customers/citizen interact with the system through a self-service interactive kiosk which also dispense the tickets. There is an audio-visual announcement system which is used to make multi-lingual announcements. A regular queue management system can significantly improve customer experience and it can also help improving employee efficiency which also impact the customer happiness. The queue management system also offers centralized administration and management features. Which allow the head office to monitor and control all connected branches. The branch managers and local administration can have their own localized access, but the head office can access the entire network. Such features are great to support the internal workflows and processes of a government department, ministry or office.

Benefits of Implementing a Queue Management System

The queue management system is a digital solution which is capable of integrating with other systems and tools to maximize the customer experience and performance of the queuing process. The centralized administration and management also enable queue management system to integrate with other systems and databases which is helpful in offering innovative features to enhance the customer experience and to improve the administrative capabilities of the management. The queue management system also help government offices and department to integrate modern communication channel and tools to allow customers and visitors to sign-up using multiple channels which make the process simple. The queue management system automatically manages the customer flow and customer journey, which help reducing the customer wait time and it also significantly improve the customer flow. The digital queue management system also capture valuable data and provide management with insight and better understanding of customer behavior and trends which help them improve their internal processes and take steps to maximize the efficiency of the queuing process.

Here are the key benefits of implementing a digital queue management system:

Reduce Customer Wait Time: The customer wait time is one of the most crucial factor in customer journey, the queue management system streamline everything, and automatically handle the customer flow which help maximizing the efficiency and reduce the customer waiting time. It also help improving the employee performance by allowing them to focus only at their primary tasks, which improves their happiness.
Streamline Customer Flow:The government offices and departments always have large customer flow, during peak hours it become difficult to effectively manage the queues. However, with the queue management system everyone is issued with a ticket hence everyone knows when their turn came, and people also don’t rush to enter in random queues, instead people prefer to wait in waiting area which help organizing the queuing process.
Online Appointment Booking:The modern queue management system allow businesses to integrate online appointment booking module and offer customers easy-access to booking portal. The portal is integrated so the customers can also view additional information which help them to choose the right time, date and service. A planned visit help reducing customers’ frustration and it also enable customers to arrive just before their booked slot and get instant service.
Enable Virtual Queuing: The virtual queuing is one of the most modern queue management method, it allow customers and visitors to utilize multiple remote channel to sign-up for the queue, such as online, booking portal, website, mobile applications, SMS, email, WhatsApp, etc. The customers are not required to physically present in the waiting lines, instead they get live queuing information on their preferred channels and are free to arrive only when their turn came.
Improve Communication: A queue management system offers various integrated channels to enhance communication. When customers arrive at a government office they need information the same information can be provided using the digital signage screens, remote channels such as Email, SMS, mobile apps, online portals, etc. The communication is a key to customer satisfaction, providing them relevant information can significantly improve their experience and happiness.
Centralized Administration: The centralized administration is great for government departments and ministries as such institutions have multiple branches and offices so the centralized administration keep every branch aligned and allow the head office to monitor and control every connected branch in real-time. The queue management system also support internal processes, administrative hierarchies and workflows which significantly improves administration.
Improve Employee Performance:The employee performance is effected by large footfall, poorly organized waiting lines, unbalanced workload and problems inherent by manual queuing. The queue management system on the other hand not only eliminates all problems but also help reducing the workload of the employees as well. Employees get support with their tasks, they can focus on their primary tasks without any interruption which improves their performance.

The digital queue management system is a great tool for digital transformation of the government departments, offices and customer service centers. The queue management system not only help improving the customer journey but it also help maximizing the overall performance of the entire branch and help reducing the operational cost. Thanks to smart AI based software algorithms which enable queue management system to process data in real-time and take decisions. All the features of a queue management system maximize the employee efficiency, help management to effectively utilize resources and reduce the need of several additional staff which results in serious cost-reduction and help optimizing the operational cost. The smooth experience, excellent quality service and innovative features of the modern queue management system help improving the image and perception of the government entity and in fact the entire government.

Conclusion

The government offices and departments are places where people have to visit for essential services, most of the time we found these places crowded. The large footfall is common, on top of that the peak hours and in some cases peak days could bring huge influx. Such scenario cause problems for both the customers and the employees. That is why the queue management system is an ultimate answer to all those problems, in fact it is a great tool to support government’s digital transformation policy. The UAE government and the local government all are stressing on importance of happy customer experience and quality of service. The queue management system help them achieve their goals and also help them reduce their operational cost by leveraging the digitalization and automation which reduce staff’s workload and improve the customer flow. Overall the customer journey is reduced, their experience is enhanced and the staff performance also improved as they can easily focus on their primary tasks instead of solving queuing problems and answering to unhappy customers in the waiting lines.

In this blog we have discussed the benefits of a modern queue management system, if you want to learn more about it or if you want our help to implement a modern cost-effective queue management system at your government office or at your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: Benefits of Customized Queue Management System

April 3, 2023

What is Continuous Performance Management? Complete Guide!

Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE have recognized that the several traditional practices and methods are not effective anymore. The markets have become more fast-paced and the changes are rapid which demands more efficiency and readiness. Businesses also need to optimize their productivity and efficiency in order to increase profitability. The performance management system is the ultimate tool to achieve those goals. Businesses use performance management to maximize the potential and performance of their employees, to encourage them to perform well and prepare them for the coming challenges. The performance management system is a very crucial process which help businesses to improve their human resources, identify problems and find solutions to those problems to maximize the outcome. The performance management system not only help tracking the employee performance but it also help improving the communication between the employees and the managers which is a great way to improve productivity and efficiency. The performance management bridges the gap between the employee and managers and help businesses increase employee retention and loyalty and groom their talent to maximize their contribution.

What is the Difference between Traditional and Continuous Performance Management

Traditionally the performance management was an annual process, or at maximum bi-annual. The employee appraisals and performance discussions were done once in a year or twice in a year and that is it. However, the continuous performance management is designed for more agile businesses to help them deal with the modern people management problems. As name suggests the continuous performance management is a continuous process. Although the goals for both traditional and continuous performance management could be the same but the experience and outcome is totally different. The businesses have realized this and now a day’s more and more businesses are implementing the modern continuous performance management systems. The continuous performance management allow managers to interact with employees more often either by performance management software, survey tools, or one-on-one meetings, and it helps them track their performance more effectively. The continuous performance management not only track performance effectively but it is also more helpful in communicating goals and identifying the problems. That is what makes continuous performance management superior than the traditional performance management.

What is the Continuous Performance Management Process?

The continuous performance management system and process is different from traditional performance management, usually a software tool is used to aid the continuous performance management process. The continuous performance management process is more comprehensive and frequent, that is why a performance management software can make the process more effective and convenient. Here are the basic components of the continuous performance management process:

Regular Check-Ins:The regular check-ins and more frequent feedback is the foundation of the modern continuous performance management system. There is no certain limit of the number of check-in, mostly businesses do monthly and in some cases weekly are also proven to be very effective. The regular check-ins are essential component of the continuous performance management process, although the frequency could be different from case to case.
360 Degree and 720 Degree Feedbacks:Traditionally the managers were the only one to give feedback to employees, however, that is not enough and businesses have developed a more detailed feedback collection method which includes more sources than just the manager such as supervisors, managers, peers, subordinates, cross-departmental colleagues, and even customers, suppliers and any other stakeholders. For that the 360 degree feedback method is used. The 720 degree feedback is simply a 360 degree feedback conducted twice, the first round help building employee development program and the second round will help to understand the positive or negative impact of the program on employees.
Evolving Goals and Objectives:The continuous performance management process includes regular check-ins but those check-ins can only be beneficial if the managers and employees focus on a few aspects such as employee’s current progress with comparison to their goals and objectives, identifying their problems and needs which could have impact on their goals. The personal development aspect of the performance management is very important for the employees, the evolving goals and objectives can help both managers and the employees to set goals and objectives, making changes or tweaking existing goals and objectives, and also making a plan of action for the future based on that check-in.
Real-time Performance Data and Reports:Every performance management process is incomplete without generating performance data and making reports. The continuous performance management process provides businesses with real-time performance data, regular and customized reports on employee performance, performance trends, teams’ performance and everything in between. These reports help managers understand the strengths and weaknesses of their employees and teams and also help them identify and rectify the problems that are harming the performance.

The continuous performance management system is a great tool to maximize the performance of the organization and also increase employee satisfaction by offering them effective personal development programs, including their voice in the decision making processes, help resolving them their problems and much more.

What are the Benefits of Continuous Performance Management System?

The continuous performance management is slowly taking over the traditional performance management processes. The famous Adobe and then Accenture shifted from traditional performance management to continuous performance management systems and have witnessed great increase in their productivity and efficiency. Here are some key benefits of the performance management system:

Increased Adoptability:The continuous performance management system help businesses to quickly identify the needs for training or career development opportunities whichprevents any competencies or skills gap which can hinder the organization’s performance and productivity.
Make Feedback More Effective:The continuous performance management system provides regular feedbacks to the employees, the employee concerns are addressed immediately, the poor performance is identified quickly, the course correction is done regularly, and employees can easily communicate with their managers which makes feedback more actionable and effective for the employees.
Improve Corporate Culture: The continuous performance management system encourages regular and more frequent discussions and feedbacks which help both employees and managers to improve themselves, the employees will get a better sense of what is expected from them and the managers can become a better mentor and guide which will result in a more productive and improved corporate culture.
Increase Employee Engagements: The continuous performance management process frequently and regularly engage employees and managers in discussions and feedback sessions, which help increasing employee engagement, raise their interest and trust, and also help managers communicate the goals and objectives more clearly, these all help improving morale and increase employee performance and efficiency.
Effective Goal Setting Mechanisms: The continuous performance management process or any modern performance management system offer features to increase the effectiveness of goals and their impact on employee performance. The managers can easily set SMART goals, OKRs and configure KPIs to effectively communication and monitor the goals and performance.
High Quality Performance Data: The managers usually rely on direct feedback discussions or line of reporting. However, the continuous performance management system makes feedback more objective. It provides accurate performance metrics, and offer intuitive performance dashboard to provide a more in-depth performance analysis and highly quality performance data which help improving the accuracy and efficacy of the managers’ decisions.

These are just the few key benefits of implementing a continuous performance management system. It is important to understand that the performance management software should also be able to support the process you want to implement. The businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE have also realized the importance of continuous performance management and its benefits, which is why since past few years the entire country is rapidly adopting to modern performance management processes.

Conclusion

The continuous performance management is far superior then the traditional annual performance management processes. A powerful performance management software is used to streamline the continuous performance management process. Furthermore the continuous performance management process is not only more frequent but it offer real-time performance data and monitoring capabilities which can significantly increase the vision and understanding of the managers and help them take the right decisions at the right time. Another great benefits of continuous performance management system is that it is much more transparent and accurate than the traditional performance management system. It doesn’t have many flaws that are inherent in the traditional performance management process. The digital aspect of the system also help HR to automate several processes which reduce their workload and improve the efficiency.In this blog we have discussed the continuous performance management system and its key benefits. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want us to help your organization implement a bespoke tailor-made highly cost-effective continuous performance management system, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: The Beginner’s Guide to Queuing Theory

March 31, 2023September 13, 2023

What are the Features of a Best Performance Management System?

The performance management process is absolutely essential for any business. Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE are proactively adopting to modern technologies and latest solutions to enhance the impact of their performance management process. Conducting regular performance reviews and feedback discussion is a time consuming task, it requires enormous efforts to complete one performance cycle. The businesses are already ditching the traditional annual performance management methods, and adopting to more modernized performance management methods such as continuous performance management, agile performance management, etc. The performance management systems have become more complex with the introduction of AI (artificial intelligence) and smart algorithms. The performance management software itself is a very sophisticated application, and when you have multiple options available in the market, it could become very difficult for the HR manager or business leader to choose the right performance management system.

Check Out: Why Organizations need Performance Appraisal System in UAE

In this blog we will list the features of a best performance management system which will help you choose the right software for your business as per your needs. The employees’ development and business’s growth depends on the performance which makes performance management system the most import management tool. Different performance management systems and software solutions offers different features and functionalities. However, there are some universal features that can help you achieve your goals. Here are the key features of an advanced performance management system which will allow you to implement any modern day performance management process to maximize the impact of the performance management software and to fulfill your unique needs.

SMART Goals and Clear Metrics of Success

For any performance management system planning and setting up goals is one of the most crucial part of the process. The performance management system should allow managers to set up clear and understandable goals for the employees. The SMART framework enables businesses to adopt to modern practices and set up realistic and achievable goals which increase the employee success rate. The SMART stands for, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic/Relevant and Time-bound. Furthermore the employees should also be explained the crucial success factors and how their success would be measured so they know exactly what is expected from them. That is why the OKRs, KPIs, BSCs, and various other features are used to understand the goals and to improve the communication. A good performance management system includes features which help managers to and employees to improve communication and help everyone eliminating the ambiguities and confusions from the process.

Here are some examples of the modern metrics:

Quantitative Metrics: The performance management system offers a variety of different data types to measure the quantity of the work produced by an employee. The quantitative metrics could be the number of sales produced by a sales team, or the number of products produced by the production team, etc.
Qualitative Metrics: Measuring quantity is much easier than measuring the quality of the work. The qualitative metrics measures the quality of the produced work by an employee and this feedback includes reviews from customers, peers, managers and other stakeholders.
Efficiency Metrics: The efficiency metrics is a measurement of both quality of the work and the quantity of the work. It provides much clearer picture of the performance of the employees. The efficiency measures how much work is done in what timeframe and how was the quality of the work.
9 Box Grid Metric: The 9 Boxed Grid metric is a modern performance management method which help management to understand the current performance of an employee and their potential which help them to identify and promote the high-value employees.
MBO: Management by Objectives or MBO is a method to scale down the high-level organization goals and set individual goals for each employees. Mostly the individual goals are discussed and mutually agreed between the employees and the managers hence it is clear to employees what they are expected to do.
NPS: The NPS or Net Promoter Score is the metrics that measure the performance of the entire organization. The NPS is used to understand the customer satisfaction and happiness and it tells if a customer is willing to recommend your business or products/services to others or not. People only recommend something to others if they are very happy and satisfied with it.

These are just a few metrics that will help businesses implement a successful performance management process however, there are penalty of other metrics too which help businesses to enhance their performance and improve their monitoring capabilities.

Flexible Management and Control Settings

For any software tool or solution the most important is the flexibility and control it offers over various aspects that are related to the scope of this application. For the performance management system the flexibility and control over the performance management process is essential. That is why it is important that the performance management system you choose for your business offer flexible controls and a comprehensive administration dashboard. The performance management process is not just measuring the progress of an employee or team towards their goal, in fact the performance management system includes a variety of HR tasks and a detailed data analytical and reporting modules. Every business have their own way of conducting performance appraisals and performing other relevant HR tasks. Thus the performance management system should be able to offer customization and controls to align it with your internal processes. For example, the system should allow managers to decide which module, process or analysis technique they want to use, it should allow them rename different modules, features or terminologies according to the internal organizational culture and such other things.

Multi-rater Feedback and Review Modules

Another advanced feature of modern performance management system is its capabilities to conduct, process and analyze the multi-rater feedbacks and performance reviews. Traditionally the performance reviews and feedback is gathered from managers and is on annual bases, or bi-annual bases. However, the modern performance management process demands more frequent feedbacks and reviews in fact the continuous performance management is gaining huge popularity in Dubai and all around the UAE since past few years. The multi-rater feedback and performance reviews enhance the quality of the performance data and improve transparency and accuracy of the performance appraisal process. For example the 360 degree performance reviews and feedbacks are considered to be the most common methods of the feedback in modern day performance management process. The 360 degree feedback or review is the process of collecting feedback from multiple sources such as managers, supervisors, peers, cross-departmental colleagues, senior management, customers, suppliers, and any other stakeholders who interacts with the employee. Such multi-rater feedbacks and reviews can significantly improve the accuracy and quality of the performance data.

Ease of Use and Adoptability

For any new software system or solution the businesses are always concerned about the usability and adoptability. The ease of use and quicker adaptability not only save a lot of time, resources and cost but it also help maximizing the impact of the new system. Similar is the case with the performance management system software. Businesses should ensure that the performance management software they are choosing is easy-to-use for everyone. One of the most important aspect is the UI (user interface), the best performance management system always offers simple and easy-to-operate user dashboard. Businesses can customize the user dashboard for each user group to make it more user-friendly. The dashboard should provide all important data, feeds and notification on the main screen, and offer simplified navigation and information structure. Furthermore every user group have different preferences hence the user dashboard should be customizable and offer flexible control for each user group to maximize the system’s usability and efficiency. Ease of access is another most important feature, the employees and managers should be allowed to access the system form multiple devices such as their computers, off-campus devices, smartphones & tablets, etc. Such features will be very helpful in maximizing the impact of the performance management system and better adoptability.

Conclusion

The performance management process have changed over the time, especially since past few years the businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE have started adopting the modern and more aggressive performance management processes. These process require a lot of time and efforts to complete, which is why businesses use dedicated performance management software to conduct the performance management process. Usually it is the HR department who take care of the performance management system and relevant activities. However, in some organizations there is a dedicated team to handle performance management process. Whatever the case is, it is important to understand that every business leader or decision maker will have to decide which performance management software they will be using for their performance management process. Given the circumstances of the market in UAE it is very difficult to choose one solution from the sheer number of performance management software available in the market. In this blog we have discussed some essential features that every business must be needing in order to effectively conduct the performance management process. If you want to learn more or if you want our help to design and build a bespoke performance management system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: Advantages of a Custom ERP Software Development

March 30, 2023

Benefits of Customized Queue Management System

Having long lines and busy waiting area is a common sighting in the service industry. Businesses who operate in service sector can’t avoid waiting lines, though there are proven market strategies that can help them minimizing the customer wait time enable them to improve customer experience. There are many factors that contributes to slow moving queues and long waiting lines, which cause unhappiness, and sometimes annoy your customers. That is when the queue management comes into play, the queuing management is a strategy and technology a business implement to reduce customer wait time and to improve their experience at the business. These two are extremely important for a business, happy and satisfied customers become loyal, the loyal customers not only give repeated business, but they also help establishing a positive brand image. No one likes waiting, but if you have a queue management system you can not only minimize the wait time but you can also significantly enhance customer experience.

Imagine you have some important work at a government office or a bank, when you reach there you find crowded waiting areas, entangled queues, and you have no idea which waiting line you should stand in, or even if your line is moving or not. How frustrating and annoying it would be? You are also risking the same frustration for your customers by not properly managing your customer flow and queues. Businesses knew that from the very beginning, that is why the queue management system have transformed from a paper pen ticketing to a highly advanced AI (artificial intelligence) based sophisticated digital queue management system. Now a days in Dubai or anywhere in UAE there are hundreds of vendors who are advertising different types of queue management systems in the market, which sometime could be very confusing for the business owner or the managers to choose the best match of their requirements. In this blog we will discuss how a customized queue management system is the best choice for any business.

What is a Customized Queue Management System?

There are usually two types of every digital system and software, one is called commercial off-the-shelf solution or COTS and the other is customized solution. The COTS are designed for masses and a large number of businesses/users uses them. Whereas the customized solutions are tailor-made software and systems which are exclusively designed for a particular business or user. Both types of solutions have their own advantages and disadvantages. The COTS are easy to deploy, in fact can be deployed within a day or two, the customized queue management systems take time to develop and also have higher initial cost. The biggest problem with the COTS is that they can never fulfil 100% of the needs of a business, usually if a commercial off-the-shelf solution meets a business’s 80% of the needs, it is considered ideal. However, the customized software solutions eliminate that problem and as they are exclusively designed for the user, they can meet 100% of the needs of the user and have higher performance, adoptability and longer lifecycle. Furthermore the COTS also have reoccurring costs and the ownership belongs to service provider, the customized software on the contrary doesn’t have any such cost and the ownership belongs to the business for whom these software are designed for.

What are the Benefits of Customized Queue Management System?

The customized queue management system can completely transform the business/branch and the customer experience. It can significantly improve the customer flow and help businesses reduce and manage the crowd. The reduction in wait time and the enhanced customer experience ensures maximum customer satisfaction. Here are the key benefits of implementing a customized queue management system at your business/branch:

Benefits of Customized Queue Management System: Reduced Wait Time

The customer wait time is one of the most impactful factor on customer happiness and customer satisfaction. No one wants to wait in long queues, everyone wants to get everything done quickly. According to several studies on an average a customer could wait for up to 8 to 13 maximum. After 8 minutes the customer start getting annoyed and anxious and after 13 minutes the customer start getting annoyed, angry and frustrated. The customer wait time is one of the primary causes to unhappiness of the customers. That is why the main objective of implementing a digital queue management system is to reduce customer wait time, improve their queuing experience and help businesses achieve better performance. The customized queue management system is exclusively designed as per the needs and requirements of your environment which enables it to maximize its impact and minimize the customer wait time as much as possible without compromising customer experience and happiness.

Benefits of Customized Queue Management System: Seamless Ticket Generation

Earlier businesses were manually distributing tickets to the customers and visitors, which is a slow and time consuming process, and this process also have higher error rate which cause problems for the customers. However a customized queue management system makes ticket dispensing and distribution process self-service for the customers. Usually a self-service interactive kiosk is used to dispense the tickets. In your customized queue management system the User Interface is designed as per the requirements and needs which further improve the performance. Businesses can have multiple languages that they want and they can ask certain questions if needed. The customer can chose the right service they need from a list, and the queue management system can also suggest them what service they might be needing based on their previous experience. The ticket dispensing kiosk is a self-service technology powered by AI (artificial intelligence) and its automated algorithms can offer a great customer experience.

Benefits of Customized Queue Management System: Improve Employee Performance

The success of any business depends on its employees’ performance. When employee works under heavy workload and the crowd formation and poorly managed queues are a common occurring, the employee become less productive. In case of unorganized queues the staff usually have to spend a lot of time in organizing the queues and sorting out the problems and queries of the customers and visitors. However, when you implement a customized queue management system, the system take care of the entire customer flow and it manages all the queues automatically. The smart algorithms and AI based powerful software engine can fetch data in real-time from various touchpoints and it can compare it with live data and historic data, which enables it to take highly effective decisions in real-time and manage all the customer footfall to maximize the efficiency. Furthermore the queue management system also monitor and track employee performance and KPIs which also help management and HR to take informed decisions to maximize the employee performance.

Benefits of Customized Queue Management System: Enhance Customer Experience

Customer experience is a key to customer happiness which drives customer loyalty and the customer loyalty help businesses to sustain and grow. Bad customer experience on the other hand tend to repel customers from the business and can harm or completely disrupt the growth and sustainability. In a highly competitive market like UAE if a business fails to meet the expectations of a customer, then the customer will move on to the next business, in fact these days the availability of too many options also raised the customer standards. When customer demands are skyrocketing, the market become highly competitive and you are failing to fulfill their needs, you are not only risking to lose the customer but also your business’s reputation. The customized queue management system help reducing service delivery time, wait time and improve employee performance. Furthermore, it is also helpful to maintain a balance between the customer footfall and employee performance.

Conclusion

Every business belongs to service-sector, needs some kind of customer flow management system which is also knows as queue management system. The businesses often get average footfall, but during peak hours or peak days of the week or month, the customer footfall could significantly increase. Businesses need prior planning and strategy in order to meet the demand of the customers. On top of that it could become extremely difficult to manage the queues during the peak hours. A digital queue management system can solve all these problems but there are two main types of Queuing systems, one is with the COT and the other is the customized queue management system. The customized queue management system is superior than the off-the-shelf solution, it help reducing the customer wait time, it helps businesses improve their internal processes, it improves employee performance, it minimize customer wait time, it enhance customer experience and increase customer loyalty.

Check out this: The Beginner’s Guide to Queuing Theory

February 17, 2023

Advantages of a Custom ERP Software Development

The ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning Software is an application which streamlines the entire operation and help both employees and the management in effectively performing their day to day tasks. The ERP software can greatly maximize the outcome of the business by enabling them to effectively manage their resources. We have witnessed that most of the businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE thinks that an ERP solution is for large enterprises and production industry, however that is not true at all. In the modern fast-paced digital era the businesses need to effectively manage their resources to maximize their efficiency, which can provide them with the much needed competitive advantage and help them grow over the time. Another strong argument that most of the business leader has is that they are already utilizing a bunch of business tools and software solution, their manual processes and excel spread sheets based management methods or their small size or industry they operates in doesn’t require a sophisticated and advanced ERP software solution. It is true that the implementation of an ERP software solution requires a lot of research, efforts, and also have a cost associated to it, but the benefits and value it offers in unmatched.

Why Businesses Need an ERP Software?

The ERP Software is offers a central information management framework which links will all other third-party tools and systems and have ability to provide real-time updates, analysis, reports, performance, stats and much more. The enterprise resource planning software drives efficiency and productivity with automation and innovation which help businesses enhance the quality and quantity of the outcome of their resources and maximize their operational capabilities. Here are the key reasons why business need an ERP Software solution:

Greatly increase performance and efficiency
Reduce operational cost and eliminate waste
Eliminate the inadequacy of the existing digital ecosystem
Get rid of time-taking manual data processing via spreadsheets
Significantly enhance functionality and help employees in day to day tasks
Eliminate errors and problems associated with manual processes
Get real-time updates, centralized information management system
Enable real-time data synchronization and sharing with all internal systems
Enhance and improve management by gaining more visibility into processes
Maximize the growth rate and increase overall profitability

The benefits and advantages of the ERP or enterprise resource planning software solution far outweighs the implementation efforts and cost. However, when it comes to implementing an ERP software solution, businesses leaders often find themselves confused between the off-the-shelf ERP and custom ERP software development.

What is the Difference between Off-the-shelf ERP and Custom ERP Software Development?

The COTS or commercial off-the-shelf software solution is ready-made software application designed for a larger targeted audience often for masses and it is used to solve complex business problem(s). Every software serves a purpose, the business need a software to perform certain tasks or to support certain processes. The custom software development on the other hand is designed exclusively for a particular business or user group at a business who wants to solve their very unique and exclusive problems or to aid very specific business processes. That doesn’t limit the scope of the custom software development, in fact in terms of efficiency and impact the custom software development is the more beneficial method for businesses. It is the ability to cater to very specific business needs of various business processes or even the entire business which makes custom ERP software development more effective and highly efficient. The COTS ERP have limited adoptability and often require businesses to make changes to their workflows and processes, it is due to the design of the COTS ERPs as they are designed to meet the generic needs of a specific industry. However, the custom ERP software are far superior as they are exclusively designed by keeping in mind the needs, existing workflows and processes of the business.

What are the Advantages of a Custom ERP Software?

The custom ERP software meets the needs more effectively and are designed to solve the very specific and unique business problems. That is what makes them superior and more effective in the long term. Here are the key benefits of the custom ERP software:

Business Have Full Control over the ERP Features and Functionalities

In case of ERP software the one-fits-all is not applicable at all. The enterprise resource planning software is a core application which can have direct or indirect impact on each and everything a business does. Businesses over the time evolves differently, every business culture is unique and different form the others, even the businesses who operates in similar industries could have completely different organizational culture and business practices. This is why the generic off-the-shelf ERP solution is not enough and businesses need a very specific set of features and functionalities which can meet their exclusive needs. The custom ERP software development gives businesses full control over all features and functionalities, they can design the system according to their internal workflows and business processes which means the system will do exactly what the business needs. Aligning the features and functionalities of a custom ERP software can greatly enhance the productivity and efficiency and also improve the adoptability and integration of the system.

Businesses can Significantly Improve their Management Processes

Although the management structure and framework could be similar but every business leader have different preferences, priorities and management methodologies. This is why the custom ERP software development is great to improve and enhance the management processes. As it offers exactly what the management and managers needs and help them with their tasks to improve their efficiency. The COTS or commercial off-the-shelf ERP software are designed for generic use that is why they missed this flavor of personalization and couldn’t meet all the needs of the management. The custom ERP software development on the contrary allow management to customize their administration dashboards and everything else. They can have customized features, customized data dashboards, and real-time updates according to their preference and priorities which significantly increase the visibility of the management and provide them a better framework to accomplish their desired objectives through the ERP system. Thus the businesses can apply their personalized methodologies and management structure which enhance their performance and improve the overall management process.

Flexible Scalability, Updates and Changes According to the Needs of the Business

For any software solution the scalability, future updates and upgrades and on-demand changes are the most important aspects to consider. The commercial off-the-shelf ERP software are designed for masses, there are always fees and charges attributed to scaling and customization. If a business needs some changes, they will have to bear hefty charges and even then the scope of the changes is very limited, as the structural changes, or customization in the application core are never possible, they COTS ERP software provider always limit such changes and customization. The custom ERP software development on the other hand offers more flexibility and control. Businesses can scale up or down whenever they want, they don’t have bear additional fees and in case they want to customize a feature or even the entire ERP software, they can do that. There is no restriction associated to changes and customization. Businesses can also update and upgrade the system whenever they need. That flexibility and control is extremely important for businesses growth and competitiveness.

Businesses will own their Customized ERP Software

The COTS or commercial off-the-shelf ERP software are always designed and developed by a vendor or service provider who holds the ownership rights to the software application. The businesses/users are always bound to an agreement, which in most cases favor the service provider. The service provider can change their policy anytime they want, they can increase the cost, they can drop certain features which you might be using and they might not introduce the features that you may need. This is what limits your control over your ERP system and have various other drawbacks. The custom ERP software development doesn’t have any such limitation or problem, the custom ERP software are exclusively designed for the business, either by an outsourcing partner, vendor or internal software development team. The business/user holds the full ownership rights to the final product, the vendor or outsourcing partner doesn’t own anything, they will have to deliver all the source codes, resources and everything utilized in the software. This also eliminate the dependency on a particular service provider, business can acquire custom software development services and then they can maintain the software in-house or they can acquire another business partner to do that for them. This also have cost benefits and help minimizing the operational and maintenance cost.

Custom ERP Software Development Offers Better Data Privacy and Protection

The commercial off-the-shelf ERP software are owned by the vendor or service provider hence they have more control over the data storage, protection, privacy, and recovery polices and the business who is using their software must have to comply with those policies. More importantly in case of an off-the-shelf or ready-made ERP software the business’s data will be stored in vendor’s data centers. The data that is stored in an ERP software is of great importance, any data breach or such compromise could permanently damage the business’s reputation and can have dire consequence. The custom ERP software development allow businesses more control over these policies and help them protect their data. Businesses can store their data in their local data centers or they can acquire a trusted cloud service to host their data from them. There is another important factor to consider is that the commercial off-the-shelf ERP software are available to tens of thousands of users all around the world, which means their structure and a lot of other aspects are well-known and this is what makes them more vulnerable. However, a customized ERP software is only available to the one user which means no one else is familiar with its structure which makes it more protected against common internet threats.

Custom ERP Software Development Provides a Great Competitive Advantage

As the commercial off-the-shelf ERP software solutions are available for masses and if you are using a popular ERP system the chances are your competitor might also be using the same. If all the tools and features that you are utilizing are available to your competitors too then you can never gain any competitive advantage. For any business the business tools, methodologies, practices and processes determines the outcome, performance and quality of the work. If you are your competitor are using same tools, then the chances are you can never gain a significant competitive advantage over them. There is another important thing to consider is that the commercial off-the-shelf ERP software solutions can never fulfill the 100% needs of a business, in fact when acquiring an off-the-shelf solution businesses often seek 80% compatibility, this means they compromise on the 20% or slightly less of the functionalities and features. However, the custom ERP software development fully aligns with the business needs and offer 100% solution of all you problems. On top of that the features and functionalities you will be using are exclusive to you, no other competitor will have access to those features and tools, which will give you a great competitive advantage.

Conclusion

The ERP software solutions are a great tool for modern businesses, no matter who large or small you are or which industry you belongs too, every business needs to streamline their processes and workflows. The modern businesses will have to ready to adopt to the highly dynamic market and customer trends and abrupt changes. Businesses need to optimize their productivity, performance and efficiency in order to optimize resources and minimize the expensive without compromising on the outcome and quality of the work. When businesses need to implement an ERP software they have two possibilities, either they can go with a commercial off-the-shelf ERP software or they can take the route of custom ERP software development. The packaged off-the-shelf software are easy and quicker to implement but have limited compatibility which not only prevent businesses to reach to their full potential but could also cause problems down the road. The custom ERP solutions are exclusively designed for the needs and specifications of the business and help businesses achieve the maximum efficiency, performance and productivity.

The custom ERP software development offer great competitive advantage, superior performance, better adoptability, more future readiness, and increase adoptability. In this blog we have listed the key advantages of the custom ERP software solution, if you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design a customized ERP solution as per your needs, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: How Customer Experience Help Boosting Website Conversions?

February 16, 2023

The Beginner’s Guide to Queuing Theory

Most of the businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE faces problem with their queue management. It is common to sight long waiting lines and poorly managed queues at service centers, banks, telecom branches, government offices, and even in healthcare and educational institutions. In fact the queues are everywhere in our lives, some of them we might not consider as queues, and some we might address with other names. For example, let us suppose you woke up in the morning, while driving to your office at the road, the congestion and traffic is a queue, you went to a gas station and you stand in a queue to wait for your turn to fill the tank, you arrive at your work and you might see a line at the attendance register or biometrics attendance machine and so on. We usually don’t realize, but the queues are everywhere and everyone have to face them. Every business belongs to the service industry will have to deal with the queue management problems. When it comes to adopt a modern queue management system the business leaders and managers often get confused due to the sheer number of possibilities available in the market.

Why Learning about Queuing Theory is Important for Businesses?

The queuing is a process where human, information or even material could be the subject waiting in lines for their turn. For example, the cars on a congested road are waiting in queues to pass an intersection, the customer call waiting at a call center is also queue, and the baggage control at the airport is passing your luggage through the queuing lines. All these different scenarios are the examples of the queuing. In this world the time is the most precious commodity, it is irreversible, no one wants to waste it. Businesses don’t want to waste their customers’ time neither their own. Because wasting time can completely destroy the productivity and cause stressful situations for all concerned parties. Different queuing scenarios are the biggest cause of wasting our time whether it is at the road in traffic jam, or whether it is at a bank, office, service center, university, collage, hospital, hotel, restaurant, movie theater, or anywhere, it simply waste our time and it is very annoying. As queuing cause waste of time which directly impact the productivity that is why it is crucial for businesses to understand queuing theory.

The Queuing Theory

By definition the queuing theory or the queuing model is a study and knowledge of learning about the waiting lines, expected scenarios and queuing behavior based on discrete information,statistical/analytical data and practical assumptions. The purpose of a queuing theory is to measure the efficiency, effectiveness and overall performance of a queue management system. For example the queuing theory help you understand the long term behavior of the queue management system by estimating the average wait time, the probability of the customer flow at any given time period, the performance of the service agent, and service delivery time. This will help you determine the need of the servers and the wait and service delivery time, as per your demands or goals. For example you will have to make assumption such as inputs the distribution of arrival and service time and the count of the server to implement the formula of the queuing theory to estimate the performance and effectiveness of the queue management system. The queuing theory formula will help you to understand the long term behavior or commonly known as the steady state behavior of your queue management system. The queuing theory or queuing model will enable you to test different scenarios to achieve the perfect match as per you needs and goals.

The Steady State Queuing Behavior

The steady state queuing behavior is due to the assumption that the queue management system doesn’t change anymore and maintain a steady state. It means that the influx, the server performance and various other variables that are used in the mathematical derivations are constant now and give a more rational measurement of the performance. The performance of a queue management system is very difficult to estimate in real-time as in real-time and practical example, there are too many variables and moving parts, which could either improve or hinder the effectiveness of the queue management system and most of them are non-linear. That is the reason the steady state queuing behavior is used to compare two different queue management systems and to test various different scenarios and configurations. The steady state queuing behavior analysis will help businesses to find out the most perfect and effective queuing setup as per their demands and goals. That is why the queuing theory alone is not enough, hence businesses use simulation technique where they keep changing the state of the queue management system, measure the performance for each state and then take an average to understand the actual performance of a real-world application of the queuing theory.

The Importance of Queuing Discipline

Usually the notion of queuing discipline is first come first serve which is based on two factors, the performance and the fairness. However, that is not applicable all the time, in fact most of the time the businesses tend to utilize different queuing disciplines and more importantly is to understand that the performance of a queue management system can also be improved by utilizing more than one disciplines at a time. Here are the most commonly used queuing disciplines that are popular among the businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE:

First in first out (FIFO): This is the most ancient queuing discipline, whoever will come first should be served first to maximize the performance and fairness.
Last in first out (LIFO): This queuing discipline is most popular for the goods and materials, such as items that are placed in a delivery truck at the last should go out first.
Loop: The loop queuing discipline is popular for non-human queuing, it is being frequently used in the information systems and also in the production environments where every queuing subject needs constant service.
At once: That is also one of the most observed queuing discipline with limited application in the service industry. In ‘at once’ queuing configuration everyone wants to get served at the same time and the influx should be managed with a set of distributed server.
Priority Queues: The priority queues are the most frequently used queuing discipline in the service industry, where different customer groups have different level of priority and everyone is served on the bases of their priority not their arrival.

It is crucial for a business to learn and understand the different queuing disciplines. As this will help them to set up their queuing environment and the specifications of the queue management system will be varied based on the required queuing disciplines.

The Measurements of the Queuing Theory

It is extremely difficult to explain the queuing theory to people without any understanding of the operational science. One must have scientific knowledge and understanding of various formulas to estimate the performance of the queuing system.

Here is the formula to calculate the performance of the queue management system:

L = λW

Where

L = Average Number of the Customers

λ = Average Arrival Rate of the Customer

W = Average Service Time for the Customers

This formula was proposed by Mr. John Little which is used to understand the relationship between the distribution rate of the customers and the time required by them to get served. However, the queuing process includes other important factors which can impact its performance:

Customer Arrival: The arrival rate of the customers who are positioned first in the waiting lines
System Capacity: It is the maximum capacity of the queue management system to handle the customers
Service Points: These are the service points where the service is delivered, it could be a single point service or a multi-step service which require arrival at one server and departure from a different server
Output: The output is the customers who are departing from the system after getting the service

There are several other more complex theoretical and mathematical models that are commonly used in by the operation researches in the queuing theory, such as David George Kendall’s queuing model, Hall’s Queuing Rule of Thumb, etc. but those would be too complex to discuss here. However, the important thing to understand is that applying queuing theory along with adequate mathematical models and simulations can greatly help improving your queue management system.

Conclusion

The queue management system is an integral part of a modern day service centers. Whether you are a small or large business your customer facing staff and channels should be equipped with the adequate technology and tools in order to make sure your customers have a satisfactory experience. The customer satisfaction is a key to long term success as it drives customer loyalty and help businesses sustain growth. Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE are using digital queue management systems to improve their queuing processes. The modern day queue management systems are powered by AI (artificial intelligence) based algorithms which can dramatically improve the efficiency and performance of the queuing process. However, when it comes to implement a queue management system businesses often don’t have a clue of what type of queuing process they need and what features could help them achieve their desired goals. The purpose of this blog was to introduce our audience with the queuing theory, explaining the queuing theory without the mathematical models and calculation is a herculean task for the operation researches or experts.

In this blog we have tried to simplify the queuing theory to make it digestible for ordinary audience and help them leverage it to design or chose the right queue management system for their needs. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design a highly effective tailor-made queue management system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: Why the Custom Software Development is Good for Your Business?

February 15, 2023

Why Web Development is Crucial for Startups?

In Dubai and all around the UAE new businesses are starting on daily bases. This is due to the favorable government policies and highly stable market conditions. This also means that if you are a startup, your competition will be increasing day by day. In such circumstances, a business needs to establish a strong brand identity and they need to do it very quickly. For startups and small businesses the resources are always limited, whether it is financial resource or human resource. No matter if you are a sole proprietorship or a medium/large enterprise the corporate website is absolutely essential for your business to establish a strong brand identity. The present day markets are heavily relying on internet and information technology, here in UAE the internet penetration is 99% and almost same amount of population uses mobile phones. Another very important customer behavioral trend is that a majority of the customers use internet as their primary source of information and whatever they find over there can greatly influence their decision. That is why customers tend to look up for the products/service and businesses in the internet before even contacting a sales rep.

It is very important to capture your targeted audience’s attentions, for example, if you are selling computers, routers and other stuff or if you are an art & craft selling store, people might be searching for you over the internet, if they find a good website and relevant information they will most likely to send you an enquiry or visit your store. If you don’t have any website then you are completely out of the game. In this blog we will list some most important benefits of a business website which will help our audience to understand why the web development is so crucial for startups and even for established businesses.

Web Development for Startups: Low-Cost Marketing

A business website for a startup can be very beneficial in terms of marketing. A business website is basically the foundation of all your digital efforts, you build your online brand identity and marketing campaigns around your website. Al other digital marketing channels and adverts can converge your audience to your website, which can provide your audience required information and website also help communicating the brand message and value proposition which is essential for conversions. Whether you need lead data or you want to make online sale via your website, it is crucial to develop a website capable of performing the desired tasks. Businesses also use landing pages for their different paid advertisement campaigns, and in order to convert you must have to have an intuitive and appealing website. The startups can create dedicated landing pages for different audience groups which help increasing the conversion rate.Apart from that a startup can transform their website into a very powerful and cost-effective marketing tool by working on the SEO.

The SEO or search engine optimization is a technique to align your website with the standards and regulations of the search engine such as Google this includes almost everything, from user experience to content, and responsiveness of the website, etc. The SEO help startup get huge number of people to their website which definitely raise the chances of conversion.There are several search engines, however, the Google is considered to be the market leader as it dominates all other search engines with more than 96% of the search market share. The SEO is a great source of generating organic traffic for your business website, the organic traffic is absolutely free which help you minimize your digital marketing expense. According to several studies the organic traffic accounts for almost 70% of the total website traffic for an established business who is also actively utilizing other digital channels. This means that by just a little effort or small investment in the SEO you can generate huge amount of traffic for your business website and the website traffic is directly proportion to conversion and sales.

Web Development for Startups: Unique Brand Identity

A unique logo design is not enough to provide you a unique brand identity. The unique brand identity is much more than that. It is the consistency in communication, your appearance, and your entire personality. A website is very much capable of providing you the tools to establish a unique brand identity which is vital for competitive advantage and it can greatly help you stand out of the crowd. Your brand identity should communicate what your business stands for and what are your values, it should be able to convey a message instead of a highly decorative emblem or monogram. Your website would be the first interaction for a larger chunk of your audience, it has to set up a long lasting positive first impression. Your website can help you establish a unique brand identity by communicating your brand message, value proposition and your mission. Your website can tell your audience what you stands for, who you are, what you are offering and how your products/services are unique.

Your website will tell customers that what you are offering them no one else can offer and that is what makes you unique. The mission statement, the about section, the content on your homepage, your product/service pages and the overall look and feel of your website will build your unique brand identity. The human brain works in a very peculiar way, we perceive colors and patterns fairly quickly than reading text. The visuals always have quicker effect on our perception. This is where your corporate website can help you setup a unique and lasting first impression. It includes the way you design your homepage, the first section, hero image, the taglines, the menu and other design elements all plays an important role in building a unique brand image. The features and functionalities you are offering will have great impact on your customer journey and customer experience. That is why it is important to have consistency in everything, especially your brand’s look and feel and its communication tone. A unique brand identity will give your audience a sense of superiority and familiarity at the same time and help you capture their attentions.

Web Development for Startups:A Great Competitive Advantage

The growth and success of a business pretty much depends on its ability to sustain a competitive advantage. Your unique brand identity and a well-developed business website can provide you a great competitive advantage. The startups in particular need that much more to sustain and grow in the market. You should ask yourself, why a customer should purchase your product or acquire your services when there are hundreds of other businesses who are also offering the similar products and services? The answer is your uniqueness and ability to differentiate your products and services from the rest of the crowd. The startups will have to compete with other startups and already established businesses with strong brand recognition. It is important to gain your audience’s trust with your branding and communication. Your business website can help you communicate your brand message, value proposition and vision in a way no one other is doing.

It will help you present your products and services in a way which focus on the value you are offering that no one else is offering. Your product features, your pricing modern, your service plans and many more could be unique, but it will be your website which will help you to effectively present that uniqueness to your targeted audience which will help you generate more leads and sales. A website can help in gaining many competitive advantages, such as you can improve customer journey by offering interactive tools at your website, you can offer a great customer service using your website, you can gather customer data insight using your website and you can collect lead data or improve your email data base with your website. A website is a great tool for instant communication which also help improving customer engagements. A startup can integrate social media and publish social proofs to gain the trust of the audience. All these features and several other features like that will help you increase your competitiveness and uniqueness and will help you building a unique personality of your brand.

Web Development for Startups: Reputation and Trust

Whether it is a startup or a well-established enterprise, building a great reputation and gaining customer trust is always the top priority objectives. Businesses need to build a positive brand reputation which help them gain customers’ trust. Startups in Dubai or anywhere in the UAE usually doesn’t focus much on their websites, either they don’t develop websites, or even if they build a business website, they don’t focus much on its performance. The success of a startup heavily depends on their marketing efforts, and the marketing is dominated by the digital. In fact the digital marketing have already surpassed the conventional marketing. Just imagine if you are a customer, you found out about a brand, you are excited, you looked it up in the internet/Google, you don’t found it there, what would be your reaction? You will suddenly lose interest in the brand. Now consider this that you found a website, but it is not as that appealing, the same reaction will happen.

That is why for startups a business website is essential to gain customers’ trust and to build a positive reputation.No one trust the businesses who don’t have their corporate website. We also witnessed that most of the startups focus more on the smartphone applications rather developing a brilliant business website. If you think from a customer’s point of view, what do you think how many customers will try to search in their phone’s play store or app store to look up for a business? The answer is no one. Have you ever though why all social media platforms and various different digital advertisement campaigns always have an option to link your business website or landing page with the advert? That is because your website is the single most important factor that will help you build a positive reputation and gain trust of your targeted audience. Furthermore there are tons of other factors that contributes to gaining users’ trust such as your social endorsements on your website, your portfolio, blogs, product pages, company bio, mission statement, user experience and much more. That is what makes a website essential for a startup.

Web Development for Startups: Customer Data

A business website is a very powerful communication tool that can be used to increase customer engagement and raise your conversion rate. Businesses all around the world uses their websites to generate more genuine leads. A lead is basically your website visitor who have potential to make a purchase. In order to align your communication with your audience, it is crucial to have an insight to their behavior, needs and purchase pattern. A website can provide a wealth of business intelligence data to startups. You can get valuable behavioral, demographical and analytical data from absolutely free website analytical tools. This data will help you understand who is coming on your website, where your users are leaving and why they are leaving, and who are the users generating the most value for your business. This will help you understand who your targeted audience is and it will also help you identify the flaws and weaknesses of your website. Furthermore the businesses can collect a valuable email database from their websites, using lead magnet techniques, contact forms, lead forms, and they can also get direct sales via online by integrating online payment mechanisms.

Another most valuable business intelligence data is the customer feedback. The customer feedback is crucial for businesses, especially in the fast-moving markets like Dubai and in fact all across the UAE. The customer feedback will provide you a new prospective of understanding your customers and audience. It will help you understand what your customers need, and how they perceive of what you are offering them. Startups can utilize the customer feedback data to improve their product development processes. Moreover the collecting customer feedback is also very beneficial in building a strong relationship with your customers. When the customers know that a business is seriously interested in listening to their opinion and they will take actions to address their problems and to fulfill their desires, they become more loyal. The customer feedback data, analytical data, lead data and email data are very valuable for startups. Especially building an email database can have long-term positive effect and could be a great help in your digital marketing campaigns in future.

Conclusion

In the modern fast-paced and highly competitive marketplaces a startup need more focused efforts on crucial aspects to sustain and grow. For a startup the website is one of the most important factor in their success. A website provides you a face which help you build your online identity. A startup can leverage the potential of having a website to step up their marketing efforts and to gain a great competitive advantage. These days for a majority of your targeted audience your website would be the first touch point, it is important to develop a great website which can setup a great first impression. A website can also offer a tons of functionalities that can be used to enhance customer experience and to improve customer journey. Without developing a great business website a startup can loss a large chunk of their targeted audience by limiting their reach and exposure. In this blog we have listed the key benefits of developing an attractive and intuitive website for startups. Regardless of being a startup or a well-established enterprise your business website is an integral part of your modern marketing and communication strategy. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to develop a great business oriented website for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: The Benefits of Electronic Queuing System

February 14, 2023

Queue Management System Features you Need for Modern Queuing

The customer behavior, their needs and demands and the market conditions are always changing, businesses need to be more adoptive and pro-active in order to keep themselves up-to-date and competitive. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE the markets are more competitive, the customers are also very savvy, and their demands are skyrocketing. The economy is continuously growing, the competition is rising day by day, and customers have a lot of options available to them. One bad experience and your customers will leave you for good. It is extremely crucial to maintain a healthy, strong and satisfactory relationship with your customers. The customer loyalty is one of the most precious asset for a business. This is why businesses are very eager to align themselves with their customers’ needs and demands. When it comes to a queue management system, the business leaders or CX (customer experience) managers can easily get overwhelmed with the sheer number of options available in the local market.

The effectiveness and impact of a queue management system depends on the system’s features and your needs. One doesn’t always fits all, but there are some universal features that can be very beneficial for all types and sizes of the businesses in the service sector.In this blog we will explore such features that can help all types and sizes of business to greatly improve customer experience and their queuing process.

What is Modern Queuing?

The queuing has come long way, traditionally the clipboard and pen based queuing was the way to manage the large footfall and crowded waiting areas. Later on businesses started realizing that they need to do more, this is when the technology starts coming in to the play and that was the time of inception of the modern queuing. The modern queuing methods that businesses are following in Dubai and all across the UAE are have evolved a lot. The technology itself have transformed a lot, now a days, the technology is widely available, the digital ecosystem and IT infrastructure of an average business is enough to support the modern queuing methods and practices. By definition the modern queuing is a queue management system based on the digital technology and software-based solutions. It helps automating several queuing steps and it can automatically manage customer routes and other major queuing tasks. With the help of digitalization and automation the business processes become very efficient and cost-effective too.

Features of a Modern Queue Management System

A modern queue management system is a software based application aided with several hardware devices. Usually there is a sign-up kiosk which allow customers to interact with the system, chose their required service, input data if needed, and dispense the ticket number. There are digital signage and large screens used to display the queuing information and audio announcement system is also considered to be an essential component of the modern queuing. Apart from that there are several administrative dashboards which let managers, head office and service agent interact with the system. The modern queuing system can also integrate with third-party tools, customer database, central information system and any other software to improve functionality and performance of the system. There are many benefits of a modern queue management system, some are more beneficial for some businesses than the others and so on. Here are the most useful features of a modern queue management system which are equally beneficial for all businesses.

Queue Management System Features: Digitalization and Automation

A modern queue management system converts the traditional manual queuing process into a more effective and efficient digital business process by leveraging the technology and AI (artificial intelligence) based software. The digitalization greatly improve the process and also capture valuable data which can be later utilized in various other processes. The digitalization also help automating several customer journey steps and improve customer flow. Due to digitalization and automation the human efforts are significantly reduced which means the business need much less resources to manage their queuing process. The modern queue management system works on smart algorithms which are capable to capturing data in from all touchpoints and various other details and enable queue management system to take real-time decisions to improve the queuing. Furthermore the modern queue management systems also provide self-service sing-up channels to the customers. Usually there is an interactive touch-screen self-service kiosk to sign-up the customer and dispense the tickets. But there are several other methods that can also be offered to customers to improve their experience, such as remote sign-up, mobile apps, online appointment booking, etc.

Queue Management System Features: Significant Reduction in Wait Time

The customer wait time is the single most impactful factor that can completely ruin your all efforts to attain customer satisfaction. According to several studies on an average a customer can wait for up to 5 to 9 minutes, this time limit is different for different industries, after that threshold the customer will start getting stressed and frustrated which will ruin their experience. That is why no matter what type of queue management system you use, the wait time should be minimized as much as possible. The digital queue management system used modern technology and AI based algorithms which enable them to minimize the customer wait time. When the customers sign-up for a queue, they are given a ticket number, the customer flow and movement of queues is fully autonomous, which eliminate any staff involvement in it. Furthermore the customers are allowed to wait comfortably in the designated spaces, hence not much management is required. The automation and no human involvement can significantly reduce the wait time. It also let the service agent focus on their primary tasks, which improve service delivery and make it quicker.

Furthermore the modern queue management system also help service agents in their tasks, which reduce their efforts and improve their focus on service delivery and other crucial tasks. A modern queuing need digitalization and automation, the electronic queue management systems help managing various other tasks for the staff which greatly improve the service quality and help reducing the service delivery time which eventually reduce the customer wait time. The electronic queue management system also capture valuable performance insight which help businesses further enhance the employee performance and reduce the customer wait time. The queue management system have capabilities to monitor the entire queuing process in real-time which enables it to take real-time decision and improve customer flow. For example, if a service counter is slow due to any reason, the queue management system can automatically redistribute the workload to ensure all counters work under a balanced workload, this also help reducing wait time and when employee work under balanced workload their efficiency also improves.

Queue Management System Features: Support for Virtual Queuing

Virtual queuing is not a new phenomenon. However, since the 2020 we have witnessed a huge rise in the adaptation of virtual queuing all across the country. The virtual queuing isthe most modern form of digital or electronic queue management systems. It takes the waiting time management to the next level, the methods and practices adopt by virtual queuing can literally reduce the wait time to none. Basically the virtual queuing offers more freedom and flexibility to the customers, it allow them to remotely sign-up for the queue by interacting with queue management system using digital media such as SMS, Email, WhatsApp, Mobile Apps, Website, Customer Portals, Appointment Booking Portals, QR Codes, etc. These channels allow the customer and visitors to remotely sign-up for the queue and receive queuing updates through the most convenient channel. This means they don’t have to be physically present at the premises, they will be singed-up in a virtual queue. This allow them freedom to wait anywhere they want to do whatever they want to do during that time. Furthermore they can also plan their visit in a way that they arrive at business only when their number is called. The virtual queuing minimize the wait time and improve customer experience by offering them more control, flexibility and freedom.

Queue Management System Features: Centralized Management

A digital or electronic queue management system is based on a queuing server application which is hosted online, in cloud or at a local in-premises datacenter. Which allow it to capture all the information and data in a centralized repository. This also help solving many management related problems and also offer more innovative features to improve the queuing process and to drive the efficiency. Usually business have multiple branches, regional offices, outlets, or customer service centers, and a single main location or head office. The head office is where the senior management resides, who want to monitor and control all connected branches. The queue management system offers a centralized management mechanisms where it provides head office staff full control over all the branches and share live queuing updates with the head office to improve the monitoring. The queue management system also allow businesses to configure desirable workflows and managerial hierarches to align the queuing process with their existing management structure. The head office and the managers with access can have full control and real-time information about the queuing which enable them to take quick actions to improve the customer flow and to solve the problems or handle the disruptions.

Queue Management System Features: Data Collection

The modern day businesses and marketplaces are heavily relying on information technology and the data is the lifeblood of information technology. A digital queue management system provides a great insight on your queuing process and performance. It can accurately capture footfall insight which help management identify various trends, such as peak hours, days, occasions, popular services, customer churn, etc. The electronic queue management system can also capture employee performance data and various KPIs, such as the average number of served customers in a shift, the active/inactive time, the time spend on a service delivery, etc. The queue management system can also capture customer feedback data either from on-site touchscreens or tablets, or from other channels such as WhatsaApp, Mobile Applications, SMS, email, etc. Any good digital queue management system also have in-built data analytical tools, which help managers to performance various analysis within seconds, and produce actionable reports. The queue management system can also integrate its data with the central information system or any other third-party tool and it also offer data sharing features which improve the control and monitoring capabilities of the management.

Conclusion

The customer happiness and customer satisfaction are the most crucial factor for the modern businesses, the market have already started transitioning from business oriented to customer oriented and that is because of rising competition and more demanding customer behavior. The queuing process is extremely important for the service sector. Businesses who failed to organize and manage their queues will loss the customers and eventually their reputation as well. That is why leveraging modern technologies to adopt to modern queuing has become an essential. A digital or electronic queue management system is a technology based solution for your queuing process. It streamlines customer flow and leverage the automation to improve the process and performance of the employees and customer service reps. The digital queue management system also provide a wealth of valuable business intelligence data which help businesses understand the customer experience and help them identify the areas of improvement to further increase customer satisfaction. In this blog we have listed the key features of a modern electronic queue management system, if you want to learn more or if you want our help to implement a custom-made highly cost-efficient digital queue management system for your business. Please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: The Benefits of Electronic Queuing System

February 13, 2023

Benefits of Implementing a Modern Performance Management System

Every employee wants to grow, develop and praised by the management, everyone wants to achieve their goal and everyone wants to perform well at their workplace. However, there are certain factors in organizational culture, work environment or even external factors which demotivate an employee and cause them to fail. Most of the time employees are way too capable but due to these factors they can’t reach to their true potential. It is the job of HR department and business leadership to provide employees a culture and environment where they not only perform well but also pursue their personal development and become more useful for the business over the time. The performance management system is the ultimate tool to do that. The performance management system is not like any other tool, in fact it is an integral process of the regular business operations. However, the problem with the traditional performance management system is that it is manual, which means it requires hundreds upon hundreds of work ours of your employees, HR team, and managers to complete this process.

Furthermore, the quality of the performance data is poor, the organizational and individual impact of the process is very limited, the reviews are once or twice in a year and on top of that both management and employees don’t trust it much. That is why business have started adopting to modern performance management systems.

What is a Modern Performance Management System?

A modern performance management system is a technological solution based on software and online platforms which help businesses and organizations to monitor, evaluate and improve the performance of their employees and help them align their available resources with their high-level goals and objectives. The modern performance management system help businesses implement modern performance management practices and enable them to adopt and implement more innovative and impactful strategies by introducing digital components and automation to the process. By implementing a modern performance management system businesses can significantly reduce the time, efforts and expense on the performance management process and above all the modern performance management system also have huge impact on individual level and organizational level. The efficiency and convenience enable businesses to focus on continuous performance management instead of once or twice in a year.

The modern performance management system help businesses develop a culture of higher collaboration, continuous learning and coaching, highly engaging, transparent and continuous feedback which help business and organizations to maximize their performance and increase employee satisfaction.

Benefits of Implementing a Modern Performance Management System

A modern performance management system provides a highly structured and efficient framework which help businesses to improve the overall performance, efficiency, productivity and profitability of the entire organization by improving the performance of the individual employees, teams and even managers. The performance management system has become an integral and very crucial business process, it help businesses keep improving their workforce and help building strong relationship between the employees and the employer which reduce employee turnover and strengthen the workforce. There are many benefits of the performance management, in this blog we will list a few most important and impactful benefits of the performance management system.

Benefits of a Modern Performance Management System: Frequent Feedbacks

The performance management system provides a highly structured and well-organized framework to enable businesses to collect more frequent feedbacks. Whether it is quarterly reviews, monthly discussion, project-based reviews, frequent goal setting, one-on-one check-ins or just open-discussions, the performance management system provides a systematic approach with added benefits of automation and digitalization. All the data, surveys, feedback forms, or any other inputs is digitally stored in a centralized data repository and information system which allow managers to access and compare historic data and understand improvement patterns and behavioral insights. The easy access to such data help managers prepare more effective and impactful feedback for the employees and help them take actions and steps to maximize the performance. It really doesn’t make any sense to set course and get guidance for a year in just single meeting that is why the more frequent feedbacks are a pillar of a modern performance management system and can greatly boost the performance.

Benefits of a Modern Performance Management System: Multi-Source Feedbacks

Another great feature of a modern performance management system is that it doesn’t only increase the frequency of the feedbacks but it also allow businesses to collect feedback from multiple sources. Such as the 360 degree and 720 degree feedback strategies. Where the users can submit feedback for their peers, upward, downward, cross-departmental feedback, and any stakeholder can share their feedback. Furthermore it also account for the feedback from external sources such as customers, suppliers, business partners, contractors, etc. Which further help broadening the scope of the feedback and enable businesses to collect more in-depth insight. All these feedbacks are stored in a common data repository and allow managers to perform various different analysis on the data using the in-built analytical tools. The data is already available for all relevant users, and the data, reports or analysis can be shared to specific users (employees or managers) and it can be downloaded as printable formats as well. All these features help preparing actionable reports and driving meaningful outcomes to achieve higher performance and productivity.

Benefits of a Modern Performance Management System:Increased Productivity

The modern performance management system offer a multitude of features which help HR and business leaders to set shared or common goals, align individual goals with the high-level organizational goals, empower communication and enable both parties to understand the objectives and the relevant outcome which help motivating employees and set clear expectations. Moreover the real-time monitoring, continuous feedback and multi-channel communication help maximizing the productivity. When employees gets guidance whenever they need and wherever they need, and when their problems and concerns are addressed in timely manners, the efficiency and performance automatically increased. Furthermore each business have different objectives and different standards to measure the success. For each business there are different challenges and problems to address. The modern performance management system doesn’t only streamline reviews, but it provides a very effective problem-solving tool which help businesses to customize their performance management strategies as per their goals, for example, some businesses might be interested in improving the training programs, some might need to focus on accountability, and some might be seeking a way to align employee performance with the high-level goals, all these features help significantly boost the productivity of the employees and teams.

Benefits of a Modern Performance Management System: Transparency & Trust

When it comes to performance management system the biggest concerns of most of the HR and the business leader is that their employees and even managers also don’t trust the system. The employees have a lot of transparency concerns and even the managers are unable to fully justify their judgments based on the incomplete or poor performance data. This is one of the major cause of the failure of a performance management systems. Usually with the annual performance reviews the managers often forget about the a few months old events, that is why the annual performance reviews are majorly based on the very recent few months’ events, interactions and incidents, which is totally unfair and couldn’t justify the entire year’s performance. Furthermore due to manual process the human factor is also considerable, majorly the manager’s bias and favoritism cause the most damage, and due to lack of a comprehensive framework in place, most of the time the managers start applying their own ideas and strategies which can derail the process. A performance management system on the other hand, provide a complete historic data, it didn’t even miss a single bit, the managers can access the past data, both managers and employees knows the expectations, there is no room for micro-management and everything is streamlined, well-organized and in a systematic order which help building trust and make the performance management process highly transparent.

Benefits of a Modern Performance Management System: Digitalization

The digitalization have many benefits, when business implement a modern performance management system it help them make the process more cost-effective, efficient and impactful. The digitalization help bringing automation which reduce the human efforts and make process more convenient. That is the reason businesses who implement performance management system can easily adopt to most modern performance management practices which help them maximizing the employee engagement and satisfaction and also provide highly accurate performance and business intelligence data. Moreover the HR data is considered to be the most critical for any organization, businesses always have protective measure in place to protect it. The performance management system beef up the security and privacy of the data with the help of password protection, administrative access control, data encryption and multiple firewalls and other security measures. The digitalization also make the performance management system more impactful by enabling simple and easy integration with other business tools, databases, and communication channels. This is what makes a modern performance management system far superior and beneficial than an ordinary traditional performance management system.

Conclusion

The performance management is absolutely vital for business who want to compete and grow in the modern fast-paced technology driven marketplaces. Businesses in Dubai and anywhere else in UAE are rapidly adopting to modern performance management practices and solutions. The traditional once or twice a year performance reviews are not enough, employees need more continuous guidance and the management need more frequent feedback to deal with the disruptions and unexpected challengesof the modern day marketplaces. The modern performance management system allow business leaders and the HR to improve the organizational culture and work environment. It help managers to get timely information and updates, and it help employees to get timely guidance and support. The innovative features of a modern performance management system can be a game-changer for the business. In this blog we have listed the key benefits of implanting a software-based modern performance management system, if you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design and implement a highly cost-effective tailor-made performance management system solution for your business. Please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: The Benefits of Electronic Queuing System