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Whether you are reporting on a fiscal or calendar year basis, the quarter that started October 1 is critical. If you are on a calendar year, it’s the quarter that closes out and determines how your financial year will end and how 2019 will begin; if you report on a fiscal year, it’s the time period where you either build on your first quarter successes or take the opportunity to “turn it around” after a weak start.

This quarter also includes the holidays and the beginning of school holidays, which can be a major distraction or a major boon to your sales and marketing – to ensure the latter, now is the time to add details to your October through December plans:

1. How do the holidays affect your customers? If you are targeting businesses, are your key sales contacts likely to be disappear as soon as school holidays begin? If you are targeting individuals, when are they most likely to be making purchases? Often the days after Boxing Day are big online purchase opportunities.
2. Many business-to-business companies should really use Friday, December 14 as a year-end sales-closing target. After that, you start to lose people to company parties, school holidays, and travel plans. Plan to meet your quarterly or year-end goals by December 14 and anything that comes in after that is gravy!
3. If you have physical products, it’s time to check your inventory. Do you have particular items you’d really like to sell before year end, especially if your company follows the calendar year? If so, consider a flash sale or buy-one-get-one offer – but don’t wait too long or you’ll miss the holiday gift shopping window.
4. Get your marketing plans in order. Segment your audience and send the right offers to the right people at the right time. Lay out all email campaigns on one calendar and note any overlaps. How can you adjust to avoid driving opt-outs instead of sales?
5. Time for database clean up! Scrub your database – check all your bounces and “bad” phone numbers and correct slight but obvious errors (@gmai.com, misspelled last name or company name, or a one-digit-off area code). Remove inactive contacts that haven’t opened any of your email or responded to any calls lately (the time frame will vary depending on your typical purchase frequency). Data cleansing is a time-consuming but extremely important task – it’s worth hiring temporary help if you can’t dedicate staff resources.
6. Plan for system updates and maintenance. Make sure your tech marketing staffs are in synch – if you are planning a major holiday shopping push, you don’t want your systems experiencing any maintenance down-time!

Your detailed marketing plan can drive your business to success – and a secure system with no downtime will allow you to execute your plan the way you’ve envisioned. With Blutone Technologies you and your customers will be safeguarded from cyber threats with constant monitoring and investigation of any unusual activity. The holidays are “prime time” for hackers and organized attacks – makes sure your company is safe, get in touch today.

Are you looking to expand your company’s product line over the next few years? This month AlphaBeta published a study called Digital Innovation: Australia’s $315B Opportunity.

They identified 8 digital innovation opportunities for Australian companies, representing a $155 billion regional market. These opportunities were prioritised by Australia’s ability to capitalize on industries where companies have already proven themselves to be competitive. The study looked at 13 product lines and identified which had the most potential in the 8 industries. Perhaps your company has an opportunity in one of these areas:

• Precision Healthcare – With an ageing population putting strain on healthcare systems around the world, the demand for connected healthcare data will increase significantly in the coming decade. Product development opportunities include mobile sensors and IoT, imaging and geo-spatial services, privacy and security, data cleaning, machine learning, robotics, and digital assistants
• Digital Agriculture – Much of the world’s agricultural productivity is threatened by climate change, and increasing populations will increase demand by 50% by 2050. Product development opportunities include mobile sensors and IoT, imaging and geo-spatial services, machine learning, and intelligent systems.
• Data-Driven Urban Management – With more than 600 million people moving to Asian cities by 2030, urban planning and management can benefit greatly from improvements in data on the movement of people and construction of buildings. Needs include mobile sensors and IoT, imaging and geo-spatial services, data cleaning, machine learning, and robotics.
• Cyber-Physical Security – Physical assets and infrastructure are increasingly vulnerable to attacks, with financial services, healthcare, basic utilities, public transport, and emergency response services emerging as key targets. Product development demands will be in mobile sensors and IoT, privacy and security, machine learning, and intelligent systems.
• Supply Chain Integrity – Food and pharmaceutical safety is a growing concern as the Asia-Pacific’s consuming class grows to $1.2 billion by 2030. Secure supply chains will require mobile sensors and IoT, imaging and geo-spatial services, privacy and security, and robotics.
• Proactive Government – Policy development and strategic decision making can be greatly enhanced as expectations from government increase while trust decreases. Improved tracking, privacy and security, data cleaning, high performance computing, machine learning, and intelligent systems can help improve the public sector’s effectiveness.
• Legal Informatics – Legislative, compliance and administrative task costs have ballooned in recent years, and Australia’s cost of regulatory compliance and administration is estimated at $250 billion. Savings from automation and AI can be found with improvements in decentralized storage, privacy and security, data cleaning, machine learning, and intelligent systems.
• Smart Exploration & Production – Declining productivity in extractive industries have had a significant effect on Australia since the late 1990s. Improving exploration and production efficiencies will be aided by mobile sensors and IoT, privacy and security, machine learning, and intelligent systems.

As your company expands, be sure your system security expands along with it. Ensure your cyber-safety with 24/7 monitoring, system security measures, and concierge IT services. Contact Blutone Technologies at 1300 660 139 and find out how we can protect your growing business.

Broadly speaking there are two types of cyber scams: In one, hackers try to break into your computer or system without your knowledge; and in the other, hackers trick you into compliance with their schemes, sending texts, emails or even calling to request you to give up information. 

This latter type of scam is most threatening to individuals, but may also successfully target businesses. The scammer contacts you via phone, email or text and claims to represent large companies such as Telstra, the NBN, Microsoft or Apple, or to be a technical support service provider. This is known as a Remote Access Scam, and according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Australians lost $4.4 million in the first half of 2018 alone.

Typically the scammer says your computer has a virus or that they have detected it is sending error messages. They may also claim your broadband has been hacked, your internet connection or phone line are having problems, and that this is affecting your computer. The only way they can fix this problem is to remotely access your computer.

What happens next will vary. Sometimes they will try to sell you unnecessary software to “fix” your computer, or they may request your login, personal, bank or credit card details. Initially your interaction may seem professional, but if you don’t do what they ask, they will likely become abusive.

Protect yourself from these remote access scams at home and at work by never giving your personal or login details to anyone you have not contacted yourself. Reputable companies will not contact you to gain remote access, and will not contact you to ask for credit card information over the phone.

Remember that nothing can protect you from being contacted – but you can protect yourself by refusing to cooperate. Even a private number or listing your phone with the Australian Do Not Call Register does not stop scammers from calling or texting you. It is so inexpensive to use a dialer, these operations often just run through every possible number in every area code. Because they purport to be from very large companies, they rely on a high “hit” rate even if they are calling random numbers.

What else can you do? Add a professional monitoring service, such as Blutone Technologies My Personal Helpdesk (link to https://www.blutonetech.com.au/mph), to ensure you have the latest anti-virus software and instant concierge service when needed. If someone attempts to scam you, report it to the ACCC via their Report a Scam service (link to https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam). With common sense and solid cyber-security, you can keep your data, systems and finances protected.