B2B Connection

Information and resources for technology buyers

2023 B2B Buying Disconnect: The Self-Serve Economy Is Prove It or Lose It by Megan Headley
Top eCommerce Strategies for 2023 by Neil Chandavarkar

Creating a new password is one of the most common things you’re prompted to do on the internet. It’s also one of the things that makes you most vulnerable to hackers. 80% of hacking-related data breaches involve reused passwords. Despite this, employees reuse passwords for business accounts an average of 13 times per person. Without a solution for remembering complex passwords, your business’ data is at risk. One such solution is password managers, which store all your passwords in one place. This makes it easier to use strong, unique passwords for each account, which will in turn help protect your business from hackers. How Do Password Managers Work? At their most basic, password managers store all your login credentials for any online accounts you have in an encrypted database. This encrypted database is protected by a master password. Make sure you remember your master password when you set up a new password manager – this is your new key to the internet! Password managers will also autogenerate secure passwords for new accounts and apps. You can set your own requirements for these autogenerated passwords so they suit your needs. This includes setting the length and whether or not they include […]

Podcast recording and editing can be done by professionals, amateurs, and everyone in between. No matter the content of your podcast or the reason for making it, free podcast editing software can offer fantastic functionality in a no-cost option. The flexibility of podcasting makes it appealing to both individual hobbyists and professional organizations. Understanding the differences of each of the choices available will help you make the right software choice for your skill level and use case. The best free podcast editing software can put this powerful medium in your hands. Podcast Editing is for Everyone The best podcast editing software is accessible is because of the flexibility of the medium. Unlike video editing, an audio-only medium requires far fewer moving parts. 3D effects, cinematic camera angles, and other skill and tech barriers don’t exist in podcasts.  Even better, if you have a microphone and a quiet place to record, you can produce a professional-sounding product. Many podcast recording software are podcast editing software, eliminating the need for complex suites. Video editing also needs powerful computer hardware, whereas most work laptops can handle audio editing. Whether you are just getting started with podcast editing, or have tons of experience, there are […]

The bigger the company the more powerful the software you need to have. Instead of searching for and switching between different software that may not meet your exact requirements, you can build applications specifically for your needs. You don’t have to have an extensive DevOps team because the software can allow complete beginners to create. Low-code development tools can help you create personalized business applications for enormous and diverse departments.  What is Low-Code Development? Low-code development platforms (LCDP) are special software that allows users to perform process automation, work in databases, and build applications without coding. In a traditional development platform, it’s considered a high-code environment because you create and automate using traditional coding or hand-coding.  With low-code, you can speed up the development process and allow those with little coding experience to build and innovate. Low-code software offers a modern graphical user interface (GUI) framework that is essentially the drag-and-drop application most computer literate are used to.  If you’re struggling with understanding the concept of this software, imagine you’re in a foreign country. You need to complete a task but you only know bits and pieces of the language. You likely won’t be able to get as far without […]

Finding the right business software is like trying to buy a one size fits all shoe for five different people. The more you look for the right fit the more you realize the diverse needs of your team. An amazing solution for teams that need to tailor their software to specific needs is building their own applications using low-code software.  The rising popularity of low-code development tools is because of this growing demand to create your own business apps without the technical wizardry of professional programmers.  Even if you are a new startup or small company there are free platforms you can get started with right away. What Is Low-Code Development? Low-code in this scenario means less coding or sometimes no required coding. Low-code development environments are graphical user interface that enables anyone to create without a single line of code. Teams build applications, templates, and databases. You can integrate APIs with programming skills. It’s a versatile environment. You should be familiar with this modern development environment. It is a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to design apps by clicking buttons and manipulating your mouse back and forth. For the simplistic low-code/no-code platforms all your need is basic computer literacy.  […]

Power outages, severe storms, and cyberattacks are on the rise. Your risk of data loss or service interruptions from a disaster has never been greater. A disaster recovery plan is your safety net, and disaster recovery software is the anchor for that net. You wouldn’t wait until after you fall to set up a safety net, would you? What is Disaster Recovery? You’ve probably experienced downtime with popular services like Twitter, Reddit, or Slack. When a business is unable to operate as normal, that’s an interruption in business continuity. Disaster recovery software aims to restore business continuity as quickly as possible after a sudden disruption. This time is called the recovery time objective (RTO). When your system goes down, there’s likely to be some amount of data loss as well. This is especially true for hardware-destroying disasters like fires or flooding. The maximum amount of time between the disaster and your most recent data backup is called the recovery point objective (RPO). Your RPO will determine your backup frequency. For example, a 30-minute RPO means you have to have a backup of your entire system every half-hour. Disaster recovery includes a lot of practices, techniques, and types of software. Check […]

Low-code environments offer the chance to build your ideal application with little to no coding experience. Companies can create their own custom calendars, inventory trackers, task management system, or really anything depending on the software. You don’t need to be the genius developer from the MIT stereotype from every 90s movie. The only requirement for low-code tools is you and your team just need to be willing to learn. What Is Low Code? Low-code means less coding is necessary. With low-code platforms, you would only have a few situations where you might need to do hand-coding. Some light research and helpful websites have ready-made code templates available. You can also ask for help on sites like StackOverflow or Reddit. Low-code development platforms (LCDP), also known as low-code application platforms (LCAP), offer frameworks with a graphical user interface (UI). This UI is a common staple in modern software today. You would recognize it as a drag-and-drop interface. With software like LCDPs, non-programmers create enterprise-grade apps. You don’t have to be an expert in frontend or backend programming languages because you don’t need traditional coding to develop custom applications. Low-code platforms are great for citizen developers who don’t have extensive experience in […]

Social media is indispensable for enterprises looking to maintain a strong competitive advantage. According to recent research by Sprout Social, as many as 98% of consumers plan to buy on social media in 2022. The same report concluded that eCommerce on social media has a market potential surpassing $1 trillion. Social Media Analytics provides enterprises with actionable insights, metrics, and KPIs. They help businesses track how consumers engage with their social media channels. This knowledge is crucial to formulate your marketing strategy while enabling social media marketing. For more on Social Media Analytics, check out our blog post from June 2022: The Importance of Social Media Analytics for Enterprises In today’s online market, social media analytics are as important for enterprises as they are for small businesses. Enterprise employees are under constant pressure to deliver. Not only do you need to strive for positive business outcomes, these outcomes often need to surpass expectations.  To maintain and increase market share in the age of social media, you need sophisticated analytics tools that provide in-depth insights on performance and user engagement with your brand.   Social media analytics can give your business a 360-degree view of how users are engaging with your brands […]

There is a gap between the users of business applications and the software developers. This is why some business software is hard to use or doesn’t offer an accessible enough program. It can also take a long time to hire a developer experienced in what your business needs.  One amazing solution modern development offers is low-code platforms where both experienced and inexperienced users can create the apps they will actually use. Many companies even develop software for consumers using low-code tools. We dive into some of the most popular low-code software in the market and just how they can help your team. What Is Low-Code In Simple Terms? Low-code refers to an environment where you code less often. Instead of having to write the code by hand (referred to as hand-coding), you can use tools to build the code faster. Low-code application development platforms come with a fast and beginner-friendly user interface (UI). This UI is a modern drag-and-drop style interface that most people are familiar with. Users only need to manipulate a mouse for high-quality software development. They are called a graphical user interface framework.  This type of framework expedites low-code application development for professional programmers. It also allows […]

Web analytics software helps businesses anticipate the needs of their consumers. Through data collection and analysis, teams can observe real-time user behavior. With that information, you can make your site more engaging and user-friendly. Web analysis tools can be very expensive so we included some of the best web analytics software for small businesses. What is Web Analytics? Web analytics is essentially website analysis. Website owners can use web analytics software for data collection and to analyze visitor behavior with their website. The information you find will allow your team to make important conclusions on customer behavior. Teams will also be able to use their website data for business goals and updating search engine optimization (SEO). By updating SEO, teams can raise their ranking with search engines and be noticed by their target audience.  Analysis tools can also be used for keyword research, but not in an obvious way. The reason a page could have a high bounce rate is the keywords aren’t matching what end-users are actually looking for. That means it can be helpful to experiment. With the metrics you gather, you can find ways to expand your reach on social media as well and pull in more […]

Website analytics is an effective way for platforms to improve their website and meet the needs of consumers. You don’t have to be an experienced major enterprise to get the most out of web analytics tools. There is an array of free tools that offer simple key metrics for you to grow your business and revolutionize user experience. We discuss the different free analytics software available to startups and small businesses. What is Web Analytics? Web analytics is the analysis of your web traffic data. Website owners are able to use web analytics software to learn their website performance. You can also use these tools for data collection as well as for analyzing visitor behavior. This information helps give teams and companies an important glimpse into customer behavior.  That perspective can be the difference between an ad campaign that flourishes or bombs. Your landing page could be super hard to navigate or your color scheme could be too abrasive and you won’t know that without data or testing. Most commercial platforms use website data so they can meet business goals or update their search engine optimization (SEO). When platforms refresh their SEO it can refresh their online presence. The website […]

Large or small, your business is one disaster away from utter ruin. A fire, a flood, a grid outage, or any number of other disruptive events can render your critical functions non-functional.  Disaster recovery software and disaster recovery services keep things running with minimal downtime. They can save you from certain doom. Disaster recovery is commonly confused with data backup. While equally essential, they operate at different scales. Backup is smaller-scale, focused on keeping copies of data in case of a loss. Disaster recovery is big-picture. Disaster recovery asks questions like, “If something destroys our entire data center, how do we keep our business running?” For a more detailed explanation of disaster recovery vs backup, check out this video: Failure to Plan Businesses without disaster recovery plans suffer serious consequences. This isn’t speculation; this is reality. For example: Video game studio Facepunch lost all of its servers for European Union players when a fire destroyed their datacenter. Messaging service WhatsApp lost millions of users to a competitor in 2014 when a router issue caused hours of downtime. A power outage hit Delta Airlines, downing systems and grounding flights for several hours. They lost $150 million and even faced a congressional […]

It might sound far-fetched, but there is a way for teams to create their own project and business management software. No more scouring multiple markets for the perfect panacea and being disappointed with solutions that barely meet your needs. Instead, you can build the applications you need with your team in mind. Low-code tools can help real developers or tech-literate create apps customized for your team and company. What Is Low-Code In Simple Terms? Low code basically means less coding or fewer operations than writing all the code yourself (also called hand-coding). Instead of hand-coding, you are given a special user interface (UI) that has the functionality to build applications. The UI for low code applications is usually a graphical user interface framework. This is essentially the drag-and-drop interface with clearly labeled buttons that you are most likely used to. One example of a low-code environment is online blogging sites. Some offer front-end languages for coding titles, bold-faced words, and italicized sentences. Those same platforms will have a simple interface where you can just click a button for bold letters. You can copy and paste an image into the text rather than having to code the link. This is a […]

Web analytics software empowers enterprises the data and analysis to meet the needs of their diverse consumers. By using the software for data collection and analysis, teams can find figure out the motivations behind user behavior. Organization can modernize their virtual platforms to achieve a better user experience. We go into some of the best web analytics software that are fantastically suited to major companies. What is Web Analytics? Website owners can use web analytics software for data collection and to map out and observe visitor behavior. Teams can perform analysis, make reports, and brainstorm with the data pulled form real-time customer behavior. The website data is often used for meeting business goals as well as even updating a site’s search engine optimization (SEO). When you update your SEO you can help you increase your rankings with search engines and then become visible to your target audience.  When you upgrade your SEO, it can also help with your visibility and following on social media. By maximizing your virtual brand, you can pull in even more web traffic data.  Web analytics data is incredibly valuable for website performance. The key metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) can be sued to statistically […]

Web analytics is the realistic way virtual platforms can read the minds of their website visitors. Through data collection and analytics, you can learn from user behavior. Are they leaving too fast? Are they struggling to find your CTAs? You can figure out what needs to be met and how to do it with a web analytics platform. Let’s go into some very popular tools and their different offerings so you can find the best web analytics tool for you.  What is Web Analytics? Web analytics is essentially website analysis. You use software for data collection and to analyze user interactions with your website. This means you can get a sneak peek inside real-time customer behavior. You can use that website data for meeting business goals and updating your site’s search engine optimization (SEO). With polished SEO you can make your website more visible to search engines and, as a result, your target audience. With the metrics you gather, you can also find ways to expand your reach on social media and pull in more web traffic.  Web analytics can track important metrics that measure your performance. Key metrics or performance indicators (KPIs) are what you are able to statistically […]

If only companies could read minds, but that’s not quite possible. The next best thing is observing your target audience virtually.  Web Analytics is utilized by eCommerce companies to optimize their website performance. Organizations can use website analytics software to collect data on user experience (UX) and make changes to maximize their satisfaction. Teams can even improve their site’s visibility to search engines and launch marketing campaigns.  Web analytics data can be the key to unlocking the potential for startups just beginning and for more established web platforms that want to improve their reach. Here we discuss how web analytics works, and what you can achieve with it. What Is Web Analytics? Web analytics is basically web traffic data analysis. Software for website analysis performs data collection and analyzes user interaction with your website. This means teams can actually see real-time data that can enlighten customer behavior.  Digital marketing teams can use their website data to meet business goals as well as even update their virtual platform’s search engine optimization (SEO). When eCommerce teams update their SEO, they can boose their online presence.  Their website will become much more visible to search engines. This means their target audience will be able […]

Infrastructure monitoring is crucial to the successful operation of any platform or service. Infrastructure monitoring tools allow users to figuratively keep two fingers on their infrastructure’s pulse. These tools quickly identify any issue in a network and lead to a swift resolution. The result is reduced downtimes, increased consumer satisfaction, and considerable financial savings for the organization. These days, there is a heavy emphasis placed on users’ ability to stay connected. Whether they’re gaming, reading, developing, or communicating they must have access to services when and where they need them. So how can you ensure that users will be able to seamlessly enjoy countless digital experiences? The answer to such an important question lies in infrastructure monitoring.  Let’s look at an example. Say you’re an application developer who decides to release a massive update. On the day of release, there’s a sudden spike in traffic on your server which causes issues for users trying to connect. If you had been using infrastructure monitoring tools, you could have been alerted to the increased traffic. This could have given you time to set up another server and avoid overutilization of the current server. This is a perfect example of how infrastructure monitoring […]

Data center backup software is designed to provide business continuity and prevent critical data loss, even while data centers grow more complex.  Recovery is a key component of backup software. Not only is it important for your data to be securely stored, but you need to be able to effectively retrieve it in the case of data loss. As mentioned in our Data Center Backup Buyer’s Guide, only about 3% of backed-up data was ever restored in a given year. However, ransomware attacks are on the rise, making backup and recovery more salient than ever.  Let’s dig into what the difference between backup and recovery is, and why they are important to every business and organization, including yours. What is backup, and why is it important? Backup is a simple but fundamental operation that creates a copy of the data, as an insurance policy against the occurrence some kind of disaster. Data backup is important not only for protecting an organization’s crucial data, but also for helping maintain SLAs and ensure business continuity. Backups can be used to recover data after data loss due to deletion or corruption, or to recover data from a previous point in time.  On their […]

Delivering a great customer experience today also means managing your online presence. For a contact center or sales teams to achieve customer success you need to offer an amazing, omnichannel customer experience.  Digital experience software allows you control over each new customer’s first time. You can customize their interactions with your site and give them a personable, human experience. The best digital experience platform out there is one that fits your needs. We talk about some important tips to help you pick the best digital experience platform for your customer-centric team. What is a Digital Experience Platform Digital experience (DX) software-as-a-service (SaaS) can be used to grow your customers by gaining insight into their experience with metrics like their real-time sessions on your site. With that information, you can improve the overall usability of your eCommerce site and improve conversions.  A digital experience platform (DXP) is used to optimize the satisfaction of your virtual consumers and your overall operations. For a more in-depth view of DXP software see our definition article here. How Can I Use Technology To Provide A Better Customer Experience? A DXP can offer your team an abundance of valuable capabilities to improve your workflow and your […]

The amount of data storage required by companies is vast, and only going to continue to grow. Data warehouse storage options are one method of solving this ever-expanding problem. Just as their needs are increasing, the market is evolving rapidly. In order to stay on top of such a fast-paced market that touches dozens of industries, up-to-date info is essential. That’s why we have compiled a list of the hottest data warehouse statistics for 2022 and beyond. We cover categories such as: Data Warehouse Market Scope and Scale Data Warehouse on The Cloud Data Warehouse Buying and Implementation Data Growth and Need Database Warehouse Concerns  Finally, we will explore three of the most important trends in the data warehouse sphere.  Top 24 Data Warehouse Statistics Data Warehouse Market Scope and Scale The global data warehousing market size was valued at $21.18 billion in 2019. (Allied Market Research 2021) The global data warehousing market is projected to reach $51.18 billion by 2028. (Allied Market Research 2021) Data warehouse has the highest adoption of data solutions, used by 54% of organizations. (Flexera 2021) Data warehouse options are by far the most popular platform-as-a-service data solution for beginners, with 47% of organizations at […]

Communication is key for all relationships, especially your customer relationships. You want your consumers to always be able to reach you at a reliable and recognizable number, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. Today you not only need to be able to offer reliable high-quality calls, but also chat messaging, SMS, and email.  One solution local and remote companies will use is a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) business phone system. This software can allow calls and messages over the internet for better speed and reliability. What Is a VoIP? A VoIP essentially allows you to call and receive calls over the internet. This can allow you more convenience if you’re a remote or hybrid team that doesn’t want to be tied down to a landline. The overall VoIP phone system costs can actually be lower than your current traditional phone plans.  For more information, you can see our definition article that explains how a VoIP works and its general benefits here.  How much does a VoIP service cost? VoIP software can be a cost-effective way to connect with clients, but that does not mean all subscriptions are cheap. You’ll find the general costs in this article range from […]