If your business is like most others, it has probably already switched significant portions of its infrastructure to the cloud. At the same time, your tech leaders are probably spending an inordinate amount of time figuring out cloud security, especially as it relates to inter/intra project communication. But it probably makes you wonder: are you fixing a problem or are you just applying a Band-Aid?

Big worries, small rewards. Consider all the worry and effort your tech team spends on email. Historically, we’ve expected email to pull a huge project management load. But email was never meant to be a lead project management tool. And what happens when you use a tool for a task it isn’t intended for? It breaks. And when your email system starts to break down, hackers have a field day.

The soft spot in your security wall. Email is an easy entry point for many different types of data breaches that result in billions of dollars lost for corporations around the globe. Moreover, over 431 million malware variants emerge EACH YEAR. In the future, malware will continually evolve to find insidious ways to outpace the anti-virus software meant to defeat it.

Consider also the increasingly sophisticated ways hackers are using phishing schemes to stealthily slip under your security radar and wreak havoc on your systems. Add to that the ever-growing list of compliance issues that individual industries must deal with, and it’s no wonder more and more businesses are turning to online collaboration tools to address their security concerns.

The safer, smarter choice. Whether you’re running an enterprise-level company or driving technology for a small business, online collaboration software provides a two-pronged defense against the types of pitfalls that email-only systems continually fall victim to:

Secure file and document storage: Email was never intended to be a storage unit. But how often does your project team use it that way? Online collaboration software provides a single, safe place to digitally store all your project assets and documents. With every file password protected, it ensures that an accidental email click won’t expose proprietary information to the prying eyes of the world.
A trusted communication portal: If your team members (and clients) are aware of how vulnerable email is, how forthright can you expect them to be when communicating on a project? Online collaboration software can put stakeholders’ minds at ease, giving them the confidence to speak and share freely. In addition, collaboration software cordons off projects into their own unique, private workspaces, making searching correspondence easier and much more manageable.

If you’re looking for ways to better secure your project management system, consider investing in a dynamic suite of online collaboration tools such as ConductorLIVE. Designed to help you remove headaches such as email and communication security issues, it can also help you collaborate, share files, and organize your projects in a secure, intuitive, and easy-to-understand way.

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The start of the new year is a great time for business leaders to take stock of processes and examine trends. We expect transparency in the workplace, improving employee engagement, the proliferation of the remote worker, and the move toward online collaboration tools to continue to be key trends driving business success in the coming year.

New work tools increase transparency. More than ever, your team members are expecting more transparency in the workplace—and the proliferation of cloud-based tools is helping companies realize that vision. New online collaboration platforms are giving employees the power to create their own schedules and organize their own projects, freeing up managers to spend more time leading big-picture initiatives. In addition, nourishing a culture of transparency can help managers increase worker retention and help employees align with the larger company vision.

Growing employee engagement. But building a transparent organization is only the first step in increasing employee engagement. Managers should do everything in their power to remove obstacles that stand in the way of employees becoming self-sufficient. These roadblocks can take many forms, but, in the end, one of the most common reasons many workers become disengaged is a perceived lack of autonomy. By providing well-defined objectives, constructive feedback, and easy-to-use technology that allows your team members to manage their own workflows and schedules, you’ll empower your company’s most potent resource—your people.

The move away from the 9-5 office job. Perhaps no business trend has empowered more employees than the emergence of the remote worker. In a recent TINYpulse survey, researchers found that team members who worked offsite felt happier and more valued than their office-bound coworkers. In addition, over 91% of remote respondents reported that they were able to accomplish more outside their brick-and-mortar workplace. And for employees who could set their own hours, the satisfaction rates were even higher.

Of course, without solid communication between team members, the remote office concept falls apart. Managers of remote teams should take special care to ensure that all of their employees, clients, and customers have the tools they need to keep those conversations going.

Use of project management solutions. Project management software is becoming more and more de rigueur in the modern workplace. These online collaborative tools foster improved communication between internal and external-facing teams. They also help reduce paperwork, improve efficiency, and give leaders a detailed, dashboard-like view into project budgets and schedules.

To get on board with these top trends, consider a web-based project management solution such as ConductorLIVE. Powerful and affordable, ConductorLIVE is an easy-to-use collaboration platform designed to help you increase transparency, increase employee engagement, and make it easier for your team members to work remotely.

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Humanity is well into the Digital Age, a period in which technology has become integrated into every aspect of our personal and professional lives. And yet, there are those who refuse even now to adopt or adapt to the rapidly evolving list of technologies available for use. The fact of the matter is that there is now a technological solution for virtually every situation or problem that might arise, no matter the industry in which one is employed. Nevertheless, many organizations continue to conduct business on paper or via e-mail, completely unaware of the nearly limitless technological possibilities to emerge since the days of AOL.

Of course, there are those organizations that have wholeheartedly embraced the Digital Age—and in fact, these same entrepreneurs and startups are making some of the most dramatic impacts in their fields. Some of the most successful organizations out there have incorporated a toolbox of technological implements into their business practices, employing time management software, task management apps, news aggregators, website management software, reporting tools, social media platforms, and much, much more to boost productivity, as well as to grow their customer bases.

Many entrepreneurs and startups are also leveraging the power of technology by adopting online project management solutions to maximize workplace efficiency. This is especially true within the tech industry, where the potentialities of technology have long been well understood. Online project management software such as ConductorLIVE offers a powerful yet user-friendly suite of tools designed to facilitate effective communication and foster collaboration—which can in turn streamline the process of IT project management to an unprecedented degree.

Web-based project management solutions empower the user to communicate and share files one-on-one or with a group, as well as enabling conversation filtering so that you can find exactly what you need, when you need it. Dynamic organizational tools enable team members to access task descriptions and project calendars to ensure that they are on track to a timely completion, while also allowing for the creation of events visible only to participating employees. A web-based platform also provides a centralized, easily accessible location to store and share relevant project information, including knowledge bases, syndicated content, files and images, and past versions of a document or other project file.

A collaboration tool like ConductorLIVE can also dramatically streamline things on the managerial end, allowing project supervisors to ask team members questions, provide constructive feedback, view the progress of a given task or project, and monitor overall compliance. A convenient dashboard offers an at-a-glance view of the most relevant information about your team members and the project as a whole. And online management software makes reporting easy by providing an all-in-one solution to creating and managing items such as invoices, timesheets, and project status reports. Offering managers and team members alike complete transparency and control, an IT project management solution such as ConductorLIVE can keep everyone on-task and on-time, wherever they are located.

Whether you’re in IT or another industry, a web-based project management platform can help you achieve improved communication, collaboration, and productivity to maximize efficiency. If you’re an entrepreneur or small business looking for a powerful yet affordable project management solution, consider investing in a dynamic suite of tools such as ConductorLIVE.

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Managing a small business presents a number of unique challenges, from working with a limited budget to managing the growth of a service or product to ensuring that each employee has the tools he or she needs for optimal performance. While contending with these and other small business hurdles can be difficult, they are far from unmanageable. And as a number of small businesses have already proven, one of the best ways of staying on top of your expanding enterprise is to invest in a web-based project management solution.

A 2015 study conducted by the Project Management Institute indicates that online project management software is becoming one of the most popular approaches to small business management. According to the survey results, 60% of prospective small business buyers reported that they currently employ e-mail, spreadsheets, or other manual methods of project management. Unsurprisingly, 29% of individuals surveyed reported that their current project management solution is too complex. Another 15% claimed that their current method has become obsolete owing to lack of developer support.

The study also found that between 2014 and 2015, small businesses seeking to integrate project management software into their business model for the first time increased by 14%. First-time buyers of project management software were motivated by a number of factors, including the desire to improve workplace organization, increase transparency of project updates and statuses, and accelerate automation. 84% percent of the small businesses surveyed in the study had an annual revenue of $5 million or less—which means that they were also in need of an affordable solution to these improvements.

Online project management software such as ConductorLIVE offers a powerfully dynamic yet simple-to-use solution to achieving optimal organization, communication, and collaboration in the small business setting. By providing a convenient online platform that can be accessed from any place and at any time, web-based management solutions empower individuals and teams to exchange information, upload and access files, check the status of a task or project, and provide feedback with ease. Moreover, online project management offers a scalable solution that can be tailored to the specific needs of your business and expanded to keep up with the growth of your product or service—as well as with the growth of your team.

Moreover, project management software offers an affordable solution to your communication and collaboration needs. Web-based tools can often be acquired on a subscription basis, which means that you can gauge the viability of a given platform for your business without long-term commitment. The Project Management Institute also recommends that buyers consider a platform with simple functionality—which can translate to money saved by eliminating the need for expensive training sessions.

Software such as ConductorLIVE can also save you money in the long run. Email is one of the biggest time and money sinks in today’s business world, and avoidable meetings are likewise a major drain on productivity. Hiring contract talent when a project requires immediate attention can likewise prove extremely costly, and even prohibitively so for businesses that are just getting up and running. By adopting web-based tools to keep your team organized and informed, you can minimize these and other unnecessary expenditures, improve productivity, and devote your focus and finances to what really matters: growing your business.

Web-based project management software can help you optimize your small business’s potential by facilitating better communication, dynamic collaboration, and unprecedented productivity. If you’re looking to mitigate the many challenges of running a small business, consider streamlining management model by adopting a powerful, affordable, and easy-to use online collaboration platform such as ConductorLIVE.

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It will come as no surprise to learn that the IT industry is a leading user of project management software. After all, IT forms the backbone of virtually all modern-day enterprises, ensuring that each and every technological asset—from personal computers to databases to administrative networks—is maintained, updated, and fully operational. IT specialists may also be responsible for any number of other tasks, including responding to service requests, setting up user accounts, providing on-site technology training, and even traveling to a satellite location to perform routine maintenance or set up for a special event. In short: IT experts are a busy bunch. And what better way to keep track of it all than an online project management platform?

The IT industry is booming, and shows no signs of slowing down. Some IT specialists work on-site, while others telecommute. Wherever they’re working from, most IT professionals have embraced online project management software, which provides a convenient, centralized platform for tracking projects, recording work orders and help desk tickets, sharing documents, viewing reports, and managing productivity. It’s no wonder that the IT industry is currently one of the top consumers of project management software in the U.S.

Working in IT requires a spectrum of skills that are critical to other professions, including attention to detail, a talent for organization, strong communication, and task management abilities. IT professionals have collectively identified online project management software such as ConductorLIVE as a means of maximizing their potential in all of these areas, so it’s probably time for the rest of us to take a page from the IT Worker playbook.

Understanding the value of project management boosts the success rate of strategic initiatives by 16%. And yet, 46% of organizations admit to not fully understanding how project management—or lack thereof—can impact the trajectory of one’s business. While we’re talking numbers, consider this: According to a collection of studies published over the past five years, 26% of organizations attribute project success to effective team communication. Moreover, having a knowledge transfer process in place was found to boost the chance of project success by over 20% (Wrike.com).

It is no coincidence, then, that 87% of high-performing companies utilize project management software. The best web-based project management solutions are reliable, easily integrated, and simple to use, as well as accounting for all of the practices above. They enable project managers to monitor their team’s progress at both the micro and macro levels; they streamline project-specific communications; and they provide a space for the storage and sharing of project-related information. Project management software has also been widely cited as the catalyst for improvements in other aspects of business, including quality of the final project, number of projects completed on-budget and on-time, and customer satisfaction.

Web-based project management software already plays a vital role in many successful organizations by helping IT crews stay on top of things—like keeping printers running, emails sending, and critical updates, well, updating. If you’re ready to boost your business’s productivity—and make things a little easier on your busy IT team in the process—consider reuniting collaboration and productivity by investing in an online solution such as ConductorLIVE.

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Today’s marketplace is changing faster than ever, and there are few places where that is more true than in the financial products and services industry. From insurance to banking, to financial planning to accounting, the industry is tasked with staying abreast of regulatory issues, keeping customers involved and informed, and being on top of the latest advances in technology and security. To that end, many organizations are looking to financial product management technology to help keep their agents, representatives, and customers all in the loop.

Faced with constantly changing regulations that affect every aspect of the field, few other industries must ensure that everyone involved, from customer to CEO, is working off the same page. Regulatory compliance not only protects your company, it also protects your customers, and is a cornerstone of the financial products and service industry. But in order for regulatory compliance to work, it’s vital for everyone involved to be as up-to-date as possible. It’s one thing for your auditors to know the regulations, but it’s equally important that your agents and point-of-contact people understand them, and are able to explain how they affect your customers.

The financial industry must make customers feel safe and invested in what’s going on with their financial portfolios, whether that’s achieved by providing insurance that can protect them against unexpected crises or getting them involved in planning for their financial future. In order for customers to feel secure, however, they have to trust that your company has their best interests at heart. That means that any time regulations change, or new products or services are introduced, communication with your customers is key.

By empowering your agents and representatives to explain changes to customers in an accurate and timely manner, you can help keep customers informed and involved, which is what keeps them coming back. In fact, when professional organizations list the biggest challenges facing the financial products and services industry, the one that comes up time and again is the need for online project management solutions that can enable the integration and dissemination of data at an enterprise level. It’s about more than informing agents and representatives about company policies or regulatory changes. It’s a way for your “ground troops” to let upper management know about the challenges and opportunities that they’re seeing every day—and that can, in turn, allow management to make strategic decisions about where and how to develop new sources of revenue based on customer needs.

Financial project management technology can help financial institutions keep up with changing regulations, keep customers in the loop, and improve security for themselves and their clients by creating a dedicated hub for all correspondence that keeps communications, files, and data in one place. With everyone able to access what they need when they need it, financial services and products companies will have a leg up on meeting the challenges of an ever-changing marketplace.

Bringing together a wide range of features and functionality, online project management solutions such as ConductorLIVE can keep everyone in your organization on the same page with ease, while protecting your sensitive data and helping your agents and representatives build better, stronger relationships with customers.

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