September 12th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Over the last couple of years, Big Data has become a huge buzzword in the business world. Whether this data comes from social networks, purchase histories, Web browsing patterns or surveys.
The vast amount of consumer information that brands can gather and analyze has allowed them to improve and personalize their customers’ experiences. But for all the attention Big Data has received, many companies tend to forget about one application of it…Employee Engagement.
When done in the right way, tracking, analyzing and sharing employee performance metrics can be very beneficial for both you and your staff. One of the things that is very powerful is being able to analyze real-time information, boil it down into performance data and empower employees with reports from that data. If you can provide employees with data to do their job better in a succinct, actionable way, it’s very motivating.
The more Big Data can be incorporated into an intimate individual experience, the better. This demonstrates to the employee that the experience is not just off the shelf and that it is relevant to the person. This personal relevance is shown to deliver higher engagement.
Applying Big Data analytics to employees’ performance helps identify and acknowledge not only the top performers, but the struggling or unhappy workers as well.
If you want to introduce analytics technology to your employee engagement strategies, below are a few tips to help you.
Find a program that integrates with your current systems. For any new software that you implement within your company, it’s important to make the transition as seamless and simple for your employees as possible.
The software has to work where the employees work already. You can’t make them switch tasks and go to another platform to aggregate the data stream. The software should genuinely assist the end user. Your choice of software should be a grassroots decision, and you should have buy-in from your employees before you ask them to use the new system.
Consider how employees will view themselves and others. Once you introduce performance and engagement analytics into your company, you’ll have to consider how that program fits into employee relationships and workplace culture as a whole.
A company needs to take into consideration the actions of the employee’s co-workers and how to make these data points of interest to the employee. This helps to foster a respected and trusting engagement experience and data needs to be used to build trust. No matter what solution you choose, an analytics program moves you away from the traditional manual reporting process of performance measurement; helping make your staff more efficient, motivated and engaged.
Business software is in the beginning stages of being useful for performance measurement. Businesses have not pushed for innovation as hard as consumers have, but now that’s starting to change. Think about business processes in a different way and gather data in a way that matters.
Select and focus on the most important metrics.Analytics programs can pull and process data for a large number of metrics. Even when applying Big Data to customer service, many businesses struggle to keep up with the volume of information pouring in. Narrowing down your focus to only the most important key performance indicators (KPIs). Don’t introduce too many metrics, it becomes too difficult and confusing. If you can boil it down to some very simple statistics, like a score that incorporates the elements you want, everyone can focus on consolidated KPIs.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: big data, Business software, consumer, customer, customer service, data, key performance indicators, program, service, social networks, software, web, Web browsing patterns
August 20th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Loyalty Rewards Program and Gift Card Processing
GIFT CARD PROGRAMS
You have received gift cards, given them as gifts, and now you want to offer them for your business. The benefits for your customers are obvious, they are easy to buy, use, and offer your customers an incredible variety of choices. As a business owner, plastic gift cards offer increased security from fraud, the ability to track sales and buying trends, and gauge the effectiveness of your promotions. Electronic gift card processing increases revenue and attracts new customers. They also reduce labor associated with traditional paper gift certificates. National Transaction offers customized gift card processing merchant services tailored to your gift card processing needs. Gift cards provide added incentives to your customers and employees. Because no cash back required, Returns stay on the card and never leave your business.
LOYALTY CARD PROGRAMS
What are your best customers worth? Reward them and keep them coming back. NTC’s programs give you the information you need to maximize the impact of every marketing dollar spent by targeting your marketing efforts toward your current customers. Whether you are implementing a new customer loyalty program or trying to make your existing program more successful. NTC will work with you to create a system that is right for you and your customers. Let us assist you in all aspects of your reward program: Design, implementation and follow through.
Posted in Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Mail Order Telephone Order Tagged with: Brand, card, cash back, customers, Electronic gift card, fraud, gift Card, Gift Card Processing, gift certificates, Loyalty Card, loyalty program, merchant, merchant services, program, rewards, Rewards Program, sales, Security
May 19th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Keeping your business’s finances in order doesn’t have to take all day. Bookkeeping is a necessary for small business owners, but it’s a time-consuming chore.
If you use QuickBooks for payroll, inventory or keeping track of sales, there are several timesaving shortcuts you can utilize to make bookkeeping easier.
Time-saving tips for getting the most out of QuickBooks in the least amount of time. Help you spend more time building your business and less time using QuickBooks.
Download data whenever possible. Even after factoring in initial setup time, downloading banking and credit card activity directly into QuickBooks is a huge time saver. Doing this will minimize the chance of human error and enable you to record activity faster than if you did it manually.
Make the Find feature your friend. Using the Find feature is the most efficient way to locate a particular invoice in QuickBooks. Those who usually open the form and click Previous until the form appears on the screen know how tedious this process can be. The Find tool will search for almost any transaction-level data, depending on your filters.
Memorize transactions. QuickBooks has the capability to memorize recurring transactions (invoices, bills, checks, etc.) and set them for automatic posts daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually, eliminating the need to enter the same transaction into the software every month.
Use accounts payable aging. Use this feature for a snapshot on who you owe money to and manage your cash flow more efficiently.
Use accounts-receivable aging. Use this feature for a snapshot of information on who owes you money, how much you are owed and how long the individual has owed you.
Use classes. Classes can be very helpful to track income and expenses by department, location, separate properties or other meaningful breakdowns of your business.
Use QuickBooks on the go with remote access. Remote-access methods include QuickBooks Online, desktop sharing and QuickBooks hosting on the cloud, which allows you to take the program on the go and make changes no matter where you are.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: accounts, accounts payable, banking, banking and credit card, bills, Bookkeeping, card, cash flow, checks, cloud, credit, data, desktop, desktop sharing, finances, hosting, income and expenses, invoices, online, program, QuickBooks, Remote-access, software, transaction
May 8th, 2014 by Elma Jane
National Transaction Corporation Receives 2014 Best of Coral Springs Award
CORAL SPRINGS April 23, 2014 — National Transaction Corporation has been selected for the 2014 Best of Coral Springs Award in the Credit Card Service category by the Coral Springs Award Program.
Each year, the Coral Springs Award Program identifies companies that have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and the community. These exceptional companies help make the Coral Springs area a great place to live, work and play.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2014 Coral Springs Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Coral Springs Award Program and data provided by third parties.
The Coral Springs Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Coral Springs area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.
The Coral Springs Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in the community. The organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Their mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.
Posted in Credit card Processing, Merchant Account Services News Articles, nationaltransaction.com Tagged with: Credit Card Service, credit-card, customer, data, marketing, National Transaction Corporation, ntc, program
