Mobile App Security Threats To Plan For

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Mobile apps continue to grow with technology. There are countless ways that apps make our lives easier—whether it be tracking our fitness progress, or improving our online shopping experience. The rapid growth in app usage around the world means that, a lot of people don’t have experience on how to protect themselves against a possible security attack. 

In 2018, 71% of fraud transactions came from mobile apps and mobile browsers. In comparison, 29% came from people using the web, which is a 16% increase year over year. Additionally, one out of every 36 mobile devices has high-risk apps installed. 

Savvy hackers don’t rely on one method to gain access to you and your users’ private data. That’s why, you must anticipate their attacks ahead of time, and design your app so that your users won’t have to worry about whether their data will be compromised. In return, this will signal to others that the business or service you provide through your app, is not only high-quality but also safe. 

Mobile App Security Threats

If a hacker can’t gain access to your precious passwords one way, don’t celebrate too early. They have an arsenal of other weapons they have at their disposal. And after they do exploit your personal information, a lot of the times you won’t even notice it until after the damage has been done. 

Here are a handful of ways that hackers will try to catch you off guard:

No Multifactor Authentication 

You’re especially vulnerable to this attack if you’re the kind of person that uses the same password across all your online accounts and apps. If a hacker is able to uncover it from one of your accounts, they will no doubt gain access to related apps you use. 

Adding an extra step to “authenticate” your account doesn’t always mean you must remember two passwords. It can also mean that you must answer a personal question, or access your account using an SMS confirmation code. 

No Proper Encryption 

Like changing the combination of a security lock, encryption puts data into an indecipherable code that can only be viewed after implementing a secure password. But everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes a developer can design an encryption code that is too easy to crack. After a hacker gains access, they can clear the encryption so that your private data is available in plain sight. 

Reverse Engineering

If your code is too easy to figure out, a hacker can take their hacking a step further and learn exactly how your app functions. They’ll know your code inside and out. And if they have a plethora of experience to draw from, they might even know more about your app than you do. 

This means a hacker can not only expose encryption, but they can modify the source code—using their knowledge to build a fake app designed to look like yours. A hacker can use this fake app to inject malware or worse to your misled users. 

Learn From Others

Mobile app hacks result in time-consuming (and expensive) data breaches. Plus, you lose the trust of your potential users as they don’t want to lose their personal data to hackers. 

Unfortunately, every day there are new cases of hackers taking advantage of a growing app or business. Learn from the mistakes of others so you can understand how to shield yourself against a potential attack. 

TimeHop

TimeHop was the victim of an unauthorized attack that led to a privacy breach of over 21 million users. The hack occurred in December of 2017, but it wasn’t uncovered until July 4, 2018. The attack not only led to the exploitation of TimeHop’s users, but it also led to an app crash.

And what was the main reasoning for the attack? TimeHop failed to use multifactor authentication. As a result, the hacker used the security information found from a TimeHop employee, to access the cloud of the company. 

Fortnite 

Fornite originally released its beta version of the game using an invitation-only environment. Hackers saw this as an opportunity to produce fraudulent links to fake clone versions of the game. 

These versions of the game misled fans, because the hackers cleverly used reverse engineering to include the same loading screens, music, and images the real version used. 

It doesn’t matter if the app you use provides a business, service, or is a video game. If the code is simple to break, hackers will take advantage. 

What Can You Do?

Prevent Reverse Engineering With Obfuscation

Reverse Engineering occurs (like the Fortnite example) because of faulty code. But obfuscation and minification make the code less readable—meaning hackers won’t be able to study how your app functions to build their own. 

Validate Inputs

Remember, it’s dangerous to rely on the same password for all the apps and online services you use. A stranger can access your accounts just by knowing a single password, but when you add more validation inputs to follow, you add an additional layer of app security. 

More Tips

Who’s most vulnerable to attack? In 2018, apps in the tools and lifestyle categories made up a combined 54% of malicious mobile apps. But regardless of which category your app resides in, you can’t take your app security lightly.

Remember, some of the top ways hackers gain access to your app is because of a lack of multifactor authentication or lack of encryption practices. But staying on top of these two aspects leads to a safe and trustworthy app for your users. 

Implementing the right security protocols for your app requires intensive collaboration between your design and development team. And it doesn’t stop there, you must envision yourself as if you were in your hacker’s shoes. What other ways would you try to hack your app? If you plan several steps ahead, you can safeguard your app and focus on the success of your business. 

Learn more about the cases you can learn from, as well as how to make sure you’re doing multi-factor authentication or encryption the right way, by reading this infographic from CleverTap.

Source: CleverTap

READ ALSO: How to Protect Your Company’s Email Against Cyberattack

Keep reading my friends! 💗

*by andreascy*

New Able2Extract Professional 14: Sign PDFs & Convert with AI

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

At https://officialandreascy.blogspot.com, the editorial team likes to keep tabs on the software they review, to keep giving you the latest and the best out of the tools we showcase. It’s about helping you work digitally and more productively.

In this case, it’s all about working efficiently with PDF documents and for that, we’ve got an update on Able2Extract Professional, the PDF suite we’ve reviewed before that lets you fill and edit PDF forms, and complete a range of other PDF tasks. 

The new advanced features in this latest version, are opening users up to working better than ever with PDF files. Here’s a look at the newest major features.

Sign PDFs With Electronic And Digital Signatures

Nowadays, when your workload is completely done by computer, the hard copy tasks you normally performed physically, like signing documents, are now done digitally. The new Able2Extract Professional 14 now includes the ability to add electronic and digital signatures to PDF files with a few clicks. 

Electronic image signatures are easily inserted by typing them in, drawing them out or importing a signature image. Digital cryptographic signatures are added by signing a PDF, and then attaching a digital certificate to it. All of this is done through a convenient side panel, no other application needed.

This feature, fills the growing demand for highly secured documents. It’s a valuable addition to the file permissions, encryption, and protection passwords, Able2Extract Professional can already add to PDF documents. 

Instantly Verify Digital Signatures

To complement the ability to sign PDFs, you can now also verify digital signatures. Able2Extract Professional does this in an extremely user-friendly way, allowing you to first visually confirm the status of a digital signature, with a quick glance at a padlock icon in the tab of an opened PDF file. Secondly, you can click on the digital signature in the side panel, to view the signature’s information. This lets you know if the PDF was altered after being signed.

Needless to say, knowing that the PDF you have, hasn’t been altered is a must in this day and age of data breaches and electronic documents exchanges. If your work is based on a lot of confidential and important files, you’ll be glad to have this feature.

AI-Powered PDF to Excel: Smart and Master Templates

Known for its Custom PDF to Excel conversion, Able2Extract Professional has long since given users the ability to manually adjust rows, columns and table structure selections to produce accurate conversion results in to Excel. Believe it or not, the developers have improved upon the feature with artificial intelligence technology. 

This AI technology, lets you train custom Excel templates with a sampling of 5-10 PDF files that contain the selected table structures you want out of a PDF document. These trained Smart templates can then be used by Able2Extract, to automatically select all the similar tables in a PDF file on its own. After you load it, a click on the Convert button will convert all those same tables into a single spreadsheet. 

AI-powered Master (Batch conversion) templates are similar in that you train them on PDF samples, but the difference is that you can also harness the power of a batch conversion with them. Just train an Excel template in Batch mode and then afterwards, you can apply that Master template to the applicable PDFs you line up for a batch conversion. The result is, an automatic and customized PDF to Excel batch conversion job. 

Our Verdict

We were more than impressed with the capabilities of the software’s last version, and have to admit that this version is miles ahead of that. This tool is excellent at innovating and improving upon the PDF features it already has to offer. 

If you liked everything we covered about Able2Extract Professional before, you’ll love this latest version. Again, you can test out the above features for yourself with a 7-day free trial.

*by andreascy*

All Systems Go: Launching a Small Business (and the Tools You'll Need)

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Happy New Year everyone!

Starting a business requires an ample selection of tools to make operations manageable. Without them, you'd spend more time with its administration than selling and customer interaction.

Where's the fun in that? Almost 1 million businesses are launched each year with most being small operations. This is an interesting trend because it shows the viable nature of starting a business where before launching was heavily determined by access to finances and resources.

Perhaps the tools make the difference? I think so. I haven't launched a brick & mortar operation but I have started several successful, online businesses. Many tools I use are same (or similar) to those found in many, other small businesses. I can reaffirm this based on my networking and business with owners.

What common ground did I find with business tools?

1. Payment Processing

All businesses need a form of payment gateway services to complete transactions. Brick and mortar stores will likely use Point-of-Sale systems whereas online businesses rely on shopping cart software.

2. Accounting

The first year in business comes as a shock when it's time to pay taxes. Business taxes depend on its organization, profits, and expenses. Average business tax rates are usually 19.8%.

Accounting software is a must to keep income and expenses in order. Both TurboTax and Quickbooks make great options for small business owners.

3. Legal or business document(s)

All businesses should have a business plan to keep efforts aligned and to improve their chances to secure funding through loans and investments. Other important documents may include a bill of lading, trademarks, seller's permits, and more.

Legal and business documents are costly if they're created by professionals. Like taxes, a small business owner may use tools to create these items in-house. 

Tools include DocuSign and Formswift.

4. Computer and mobile hardware

What's a business to do if team members don't have access to computers, mobile devices, and the Web? These two sets of tools, alone, present many opportunities -- including:

• Access to website building tools

• Mobile CRM and networking tools

• Social media marketing and always-on monitoring

• Warehouse management and logistics

• Payroll and time management software

These tools become vital for its launch as Web efforts will generally lead to high engagement, low-cost marketing campaigns to build awareness and sales.

Also, businesses may choose to bring advertising and marketing creative design in-house by making flyers, posters, brochures, and business cards for a fraction of the costs if done by a designer. 

Tools all small businesses will want to explore include Salesforce, Hootsuite, Wix, and ADP.

5. Business Intelligence

BI tools give small business owners insights into the business operations and organization. Data is uploaded to these tools to compile information and records to produce actionable reports.

Microsoft Power BI offers a free version of their tool many small business owners may want to explore if they feel it provides a benefit.

6. Helpdesk

Gathering customer (and employee) feedback is tedious if these items are stored and organized through traditional filing systems.

Helpdesk software sits on your workplace hardware. Or, it's cloud-based. These tools create a gateway for feedback and handling issues. Other benefits include:

• A central hub for FAQ's

• User roles and hierarchy for management

• Community forums to crowdsource help

There's a Tool for Everything

No matter the task or problem... there's a tool to provide a solution. Yes, each tool you introduce will produce a learning curve and time investment. But, they will greatly reduce the tedious tasks.

This frees more of your time to work on the enjoyable activities like interacting with customers, exploring new ventures, and nurturing team cohesion.

I've found most businesses all use one or all types of these tools. Though, ask your fellow entrepreneurs for extra pointers and suggestions.

*by andreascy*

How to Fill and Edit PDF Forms with Able2Extract Pro 12 [Sneak Preview]

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

A few years ago, THE OFFICIAL ANDREASCY editorial team featured the Able2Extract PDF Converter and presented the multiple benefits of owning a similar software program. At the time, it was the first cross-platform PDF conversion software compatible with Windows, Linux and MacOS. Since then (we tested and reviewed the version 8), Able2Extract Professional has grown into a full-blown PDF solution that not only converts PDF to other file types, but also creates, annotates and edits PDFs on the spot. 

PDF annotations and advanced editing files without conversion seem to be the most interesting recent additions and productivity boosters when it comes to working with PDFs. Using PDF annotations, for example, you can easily highlight your PDF content or add custom watermarks to your files. And, of course, direct editing of PDF content is the holy grail of efficient PDF file management.

Few days ago, we have learned that the developer is about to release the newest, updated version of the software with lots of new features and enhancements. These include adding customized bates numbers to PDFs, even faster conversion of multiple PDFs at once, and, most notably, PDF forms filling and editing. 

Interactive PDF forms allow us to minimize the usage of paper and save time on scanning various paper forms that we need to submit elsewhere. That is exactly why we wanted to be the first ones to actually test and demonstrate how you can complete and modify PDF forms with Able2Extract Professional 12 that is about to be released on December 6th 2017. 

So, without further ado, here is the detailed tutorial on filling and editing PDF forms.

How to Fill Out PDF Forms

To start completing a PDF form with Able2Extract, just open it in the software using the Open icon on the command toolbar, or hit Ctrl+O on your keyboard.

As soon as you have your interactive PDF form opened in Able2Extract, you are ready to interact with it. Click on the field and start entering your information. Input text into text fields, select multiple items on list boxes, specify your options in combo-boxes and checkboxes, and click on push-buttons.

If you make a mistake while you are completing the form, you can go back to any given field and make desired edits. 

Once you’ve completed the form, save it to your hard drive or submit. To save a form, click on the Save icon you can also find on the toolbar (or, if you prefer to use the keyboard, then CTRL+S will do the trick). Next time you open the same PDF form, it will contain the information that you entered in Able2Extract. Of course, should you prefer to save one blank copy on your hard drive, save the completed form using the Save As option on the File menu. 

How to Edit PDF Forms 

The latest version of Able2Extract comes with an integrated PDF form editor. Thanks to this advanced capability, you can not only fill out PDF forms but also easily modify them. For example, insert an additional text field or add a new combobox. Or, maybe just add a new item or delete the existing one from the combobox already present in the PDF form. 

It’s really easy, but here is the quick how to guide to editing PDF forms. 

Open the PDF form in Able2Extract as already described. Then click on the Edit icon also easily recognized on the main toolbar to switch to the PDF editing more. 

On the right side, you will see the Edit PDF side panel. Further to the right, you will see two small tabs. You will need to click on the PDF form tab that is just below the tab you are currently in (see the screenshot below):

Having done that, you will see the Edit PDF form side-panel with two main sections: Form Fields and Properties.

As you can see in the screen capture above, you can add six different form fields (from the top left row to the bottom right row): text box, combobox, list box, checkbox, radio button, action button. And you can also delete any form field (just select it by clicking on it). 

To add a form field, click on it and drag onto the page. 

Note that for each form field that you add, you can define properties like name, font, font size, background or border color, line width and border style. You can also specify that a certain field be Read-only or Required by checking the appropriate box in the Properties menu. 

Clicking the More button, you will have the option to define additional properties for the specified PDF field. Let’s take, for example, the text field. You can customize the default text, specify that the field be multiline, turn off the spell check for the entered text and more, as you can see on the image below.

Obviously, there are multiple options for customizing and editing your forms. You can create complex PDF forms with Able2Extract. 

Having created your PDF form, save it. Optionally, you can go back to the convert mode by clicking on the Convert icon found on the toolbar and complete the form you have just made. Then proceed to saving. 

Conclusion

Our verdict is the Able2Extract Professional’s form filler and editor work really well. Of course, most people will probably use it to complete PDF forms and submit it to servers. But the real power lies in its PDF form editing functionality. Users who often prepare and work with PDF forms will probably best recognize its potential and appreciate it. 

As noted at the beginning of this review and tutorial, Able2Extract Professional 12, with form filling and editing will be released on December 6th, 2017. So, if you want to try it for yourself, it will from that date be available for download here. Trying it is free for 7 days -- just about enough to play with and test all (or most) of its features. 

*by andreascy*

8 Strategies for a More Efficient Home

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Life only gets busier and busier. Ever since the industrial revolution, we do more and more. In recent decades, advances in technology allow us to stay far more connected, at the cost of being far busier. Staying on top of your life, and your home, has never been a bigger challenge.

We’ve identified eight strategies that can help you be more efficient at home. They range from embracing technology all the way down to how you shop at the grocery store. The goal is embrace a few of these tactics so that you can get a little bit more free time without losing your productivity. 

1. Buy Groceries Pre-Cut

You don’t realize how much time you spend cutting, chopping, shredding, dicing, mincing, and slicing as you prepare a meal. And, awhile back, someone brilliant thought it would be a good idea to start selling food in the grocery store where they had already done all of this for you. 

Nowadays, you can buy your cheese shredded and your garlic minced. You can buy your vegetables chopped and your deli meat sliced. You might already be buying one or two of these items pre-cut, but have you ever sat down and evaluated all of the areas you could save time by going all-in on this?

Next time you make a store list, spend a minute going through it and asking the question “Can I buy this pre-cut?” If so, do it. You’ll be surprised by how many things you can buy pre-cut. Not sure if it comes pre-cut? Put a question mark next to it, and look for it at the store. Ask a clerk if you can’t find it easily.

Yes, typically speaking, the pre-cut version of the food is a little but more expensive. If you’re on a tight budget, it might not be the best option for right now. But, in my experience, the amount of time you’ll save far outweighs the slight cost increase. 

2. Purchase a Smart Lock for your Front Door

There are several benefits to having a smart lock on your front door. First and foremost, you’ll be the ire of all of your neighbors with your cool looking dead bolt, and state of the art entry mechanism. And, that’s worth it alone right?

On a serious note, for starters you won’t have to manage the number of keys you have floating around to your house any longer. At a certain point, you start to lose track of how many spare keys you have floating around, and it isn’t particularly safe. Also, you’ll never have to worry about leaving your keys and being locked out of your house. It only takes that happening once for you to realize how frustrating that is (and how big of a waste of time)!

You also won’t have to deal with having to make and transfer a key to family members, friends that are in town, housekeepers and maintenance workers… the list goes on. 

Keyless locks come in two basic types - one’s that utilize a number pad, and one’s that utilize technology. If you’re worried about wireless security, you might opt for the number pad version. However, there are several additional benefits that come with the technologically smart version. 

Your door will automatically unlock as you approach it with your smart phone on you. Also, you can quickly issue access to friends and family through their smartphone, and set boundaries on how long it is accessible for.

Lets take a real life example that just happened to me. I forgot to turn off our lights before leaving for a long weekend. I quickly texted my neighbor, and gave her access through her phone to our front door for 2 hours. She ran over and turned the lights off. Voila!

3. Cook in a Crockpot

If only I had known about this in college. Did you know it was possible to open your fridge, grab a couple of things, throw them into a crockpot, walk away for 4-8 hours, and come back to an amazing meal?

It’s a little more complicated than that, but not by much. A crockpot is a very simple cooking appliance, and it seems that almost everything you put in it comes out tasting good. And, with very little effort. 

Take this recipe, for example: four frozen chicken breasts and a can of salsa. Dump both into a crockpot, set on low, and when you come home from work or errands, you’ll have an amazing meal. Wrap it in a tortilla and put a little cheese on top, and several of my friends have commented that it tasted better than the local Mexican restaurant. 

Crockpots are amazing because they save you both time and money. The time savings are obvious – the slow cooking components of the process allow you to do very little prep to end up with a great meal. However, you can also save a lot of money with a crockpot. Typically, you can make an amazing meal with much cheaper meat. Again, the slow cooking process breaks down the meat into something quite good. Chuck roast, pork shoulder – these cuts of meat taste amazing in the crockpot, and could usually be purchased very inexpensively.

4. Buy in Bulk

You’ve probably heard this one from your mother at some point, but it is so true. Buying in bulk saves you money, but it also saves you so much time. 

It’s painful at first. It never seems like it's going to be very expensive until you get to the checkout line. Almost as painful is trying to figure out where to store it all. Who has room for 28 rolls of paper towels? And that 5 gallon drum of 409? Ok, I exaggerate, but you get the point. If you live in a small home, or don’t have a lot of storage, you do need to take this into consideration. 

But then the benefits kick in. You rarely have to make those emergency runs to the store to get just one item. Your life is interrupted far less by the need to go to the neighbor’s for an egg. 

And again, the savings are definitely there. You get a discount when you buy in bulk, and you’ll notice the savings over time. Just make sure you have a track record of using it before you buy in bulk. Otherwise, you might end up with a whole lot of something that looked good but didn’t turn out so.

5. Use Technology for List Creation

All this talk of what to buy, how much of it to buy, and how to cook it… you need a good list to keep track of everything. And if you’re still making your lists with pen and paper, or even on a computer, its time to leverage technology for that.

There are a plethora of apps available for your phone that you can create and update a list on in real time. The best part of this is that you always have your list on you, whether at home, at the store, or on the go. Whenever you think of something you need, you can quickly add it to your list.

Another benefit is that you can share these lists with others. So, for example, if your husband or wife lets you know that they need to stop by the store on the way home from work, you can quickly share the list with them and they can grab everything you need.

Better yet, share the app with others in your home that have a role in that list. That way, all can add to it in real time, and all can check it off in real time.

Lists don’t just have to be for the store. They can be for household projects, homework assignments, and long term journaling. I actually have a list on my phone for when I think of a good gift for someone. 

6. Unsubscribe from Junk Snail Mail

Yes, it’s possible. I won’t say that there is an easy button for it, but with a little work, you can rid yourself of the vast majority of junk mail that you receive. I know because I’ve done it. 

For starters, start to think closer about where you are using your address on forms. Try to be more mindful of not giving out your address if possible. 

Your first action item is to contact the Direct Marketing Association and let them know you want to stop receiving junk mail. They call it “offers” that you have participated in, but you get the picture. It’s very easy to do, and will start to stem the flow of endless junk snail mail.

Next, sign up for TrustedID Mail Preference Service. It’s free, and you can search for individual companies that you get junk mail from, and opt out. Spend an evening doing that.

Last, try taking advantage of PaperKarma, an app that lets you opt out of snail mail. As they say “Snap a photo. Stop junk mail and unwanted catalogs”.

Junk mail takes minutes every day to deal with, but those minutes add up to hours and hours every year. 

7. Rethink your Chores

House chores are never ending. Just when you finish a chore, it seems like its time to start on it all over again. And, if you fall behind, it can seem like a tremendous hurdle to get caught back up.

For many, the reason you fall behind on chores is a never-ending spiral that has to do with how you fundamentally approach those chores. As you get behind, the chores stack up. So, when you finally get around to doing the chore, it’s typically more extensive and time consuming to get it completed. This means that it takes longer, setting you even further behind on your other chores. And so the cycle goes.

Try re-thinking your chores. For starters, break each chore up into smaller components that can be done piece by piece. As an example, instead of vacuuming the entire house once per week, try vacuuming one room each day. This is much easier to accomplish, and a lot easier to catch up on if you miss one day.

Next, think about ways to make the chore simpler. Sticking with our vacuuming example, invest in a stick vacuum to put in a downstairs closet near your high traffic areas. These lightweight, easy-to-use vacuums come with cordless models, so you can whip it out and just vacuum the kitchen and dining room in a matter of minutes. 

Finally, follow the 80/20 rule, which says that “80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.” In other words, 80% of the effects from vacuuming comes from 20% of your efforts. How does this apply? Basically, it’s better to vacuum frequently, but not spend as much time on it, rather than doing an in-depth vacuum job infrequently.

You can still do a detailed vacuuming job, but perhaps that is best reserved for once per month.

Take the vacuuming example and apply to all the various chores you have. The goal is rethink how you approach your chores to focus on shorter sprints of execution. This will make you more efficient, while still giving you a majority of the results.

8. Go Smart

We talked earlier about adding a keyless entry to your front door, and mentioned that you could do this with a smart door lock. However, you don’t have to stop there. 

“Smart” is the term used of late to refer to home automation, or the automating of tasks at home. In practice, its less about automation, and more about making your life easier through incorporating various technologies. 

Here are a few areas we have added smart technology to our home, with great success:

• Smart Thermostat: Our air conditioning and heating system is now hooked up to a smart thermostat. You can still control it from the unit in your home, but you can now also access through an app on your phone. More importantly, the thermostat learns your patterns over time, and gradually sets the house to the temperature you prefer. This results in ease-of-use, while also saving you money on your energy bill in the long run.

• Smart Sprinkler System: Our sprinkler system now connects to the internet, getting updated on the weather. When it is going to rain, the sprinklers automatically turn off. You can also access this from an app on your phone. On a really hot day, sometimes I’ll turn on my sprinklers for an extra cycle in the evening, from my phone. 

• Amazon Echo: Amazon’s Echo is a hands-free, intelligent, personal assistant that responds to voice commands. It connects to a majority of your other devices. There are dozens of benefits, but my favorite ties in to a previously mentioned tip. You can update your lists simply through a voice command.

Conclusion 

There are numerous other ways to make your home smart, from tying in your lighting to your entertainment to your security. Each comes with an initial upfront cost, but will save you time and money over the long run. 

Our culture of busy can make keeping a home up challenging at times. Combatting this business with some of these efficiency tactics can free up some time for you, while still keep you on task. 

*by andreascy*

Here Is the Software That Can Save Your Business in a Pinch

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

While the giant, hydra-headed monster known as business moves slowly, the actual work of business happens fast, extremely fast. Just ask BlackBerry: a company that ruled the smartphone roost in the beginning. They thought they had a long time to sit on their lead. They never saw Apple coming. The iPhone struck so fast that even once it got here, they didn’t really see it. Now, they’re dead.

BlackBerry (known at the time as RIM) could have used a bit of help with technology that could have saved them in a pinch. And they are not the only cautionary tale from which we can learn. From the outside, business moves at a glacial pace. From the inside, it moves at the speed of light.

While most businesses will never have to face what RIM did, there comes a time when every business is confronted with a situation that might have left them paralyzed were it not for recent technological developments. Here is a handful that just might help your business in a pinch:

A Custom Event App

Doing a corporate event the old-fashioned way is just flushing money down the old-fashioned corporate toilet. If you find yourself responsible for making event arrangements, you probably know how important it is to have a branded, custom-made app. What you may not realize is how few people inside your company could actually pull that off.

You will find companies like Cvent exist to make custom app development possible for those businesses without the internal resources to manage it for themselves. There are lots of moving parts to getting the most out of your corporate event. For starters, an event app gives you higher engagement from the participants, and better analytics to track the effectiveness of your corporate spend.

Corporate events are some of the best corporate dollars you can spend, but only if you do it right. Doing it right means providing what most companies can’t: a custom app for a more immersive and productive experience. You don’t want to wait until the last minute to commission your app. But it is great to know that it is there for the save when you need it.

Relocating

The same tech that helps consumers move on short notice can be leveraged for companies when they have to relocate. When moving a business, a thousand things can go wrong. There are small things like finding the packing supplies you need at a reasonable price, to the big things like having to find a different moving company at the last minute.

Setting up the office at the new location is also a part of the moving adventure. There will be special cables that are lost or damaged. You won’t be able to start your servers without them. And you can’t get them from your local retailer. How many days can you afford to go without restarting your server?

Between local search on mobile, and 24/7/365 online retailers that can get you any conceivable part the next business day, businesses are saved on a daily basis.

Document Markup and Signing Apps

The fax machine was really great at one thing: Receiving a document that you could fill out, sign, and send back. The last thing you wanted to do was depend on mail and parcel services to move documents from one place to the other. If you didn’t have access to a fax on both ends of the deal, you would likely lose the deal. That is probably the main impetus for courier services.

Today, neither fax nor couriers are necessary for those tasks. We can just use sign and markup apps to scan documents, fill them out, include a real signature, and send them on their way. It takes longer to sign a document than it does to send it anywhere in the world.

Sometimes moving at the speed of business means crawling at a snails pace. And other times, it means zipping along at light speed. When it’s the latter, don’t get left behind. Use custom event apps, apps to help with relocation, and document signing apps. The next time your small business is in a pinch, just remember, there’s an app for that.

Would love to hear from you in the comments!

*by andreascy*

How to Easily Edit a Resume Anytime Needed

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

How many times did you miss the opportunity to land a dream job because you didn’t send your resume on time? If you are counting, then you can probably relate with the following situation. 

You noticed, or your friend sent you a great job ad that perfectly describes you and you think: “Wonderful, I’ll definitely apply, I just need to adjust my resume.” That’s understandable given that it’s very important to create a resume that fits a job description and requirements. That will bring you one step closer to landing a new job. However, as it usually happens, you procrastinate and wait the last minute and then, of course, something goes wrong and technical problems arise. In the end, as a result, you don’t get called for a job interview.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t have to be like that. You can take advantage of a modern technology and mobile device and edit your resume right away, without delays and technical issues.

PDF to Word Convert will easily and successfully convert your PDF resume into an MS Word document on your iPhone or iPad. In that way, it will become editable, so you are able to make necessary changes, to update your resume or to modify it a little bit, in just a few taps.

Step 1

Download PDF to Word Converter from the app Store.

Step 2

Whether you store your resume on the phone, or you have it on Gmail or cloud services, just click on the button and find your CV.

Step 3

You’ll find your document among converted files. Afterwards, simply open it in Word application and edit your resume.

And that’s it! Now you don’t have to wait the last minute when you can modify your resume immediately and send it right away. In that way, you’ll avoid negative surprises and hopefully get a dream job. 

EXPLORE FURTHER: How to Edit Bank Statements on a Mobile Device

Good luck and let us know how did it go. We would gladly help!

*by andreascy*

Snap Studies: How Brands Can Connect with Snapchat Fervent User Base

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

When Snapchat first burst onto the scene in 2012, it attracted millennials and Gen Z-ers in droves. But brands (for the most part) stayed away - they were still trying to harness the power of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And millennials and Gen Z-ers loved having a network all to themselves, a space where they could communicate with their friends all day without any brand interruptions. This peaceful paradise didn’t last too long, however, as brands quickly took notice of Snapchat’s impressive user stats. Younger generations were living and breathing snaps, and brands wanted in. Now with a daily video view rate of 10 billion daily views, brands are experimenting with various storytelling and ad formats to serve always-on content to their growing audiences. 

Today, Snapchat is a publicly traded company with an IPO boosted by the network’s ability to secure consistent user engagement. And brands boast features tailor made for brands, including Discover Stories and custom filters and geotags to promote specific events. As of 2016, advertisers were coughing up a minimum of $100,000 to run ads on the platform; a cost well worth the advantage of connecting with two generations aging up and gaining spending power.

In addition to paid promotion, brands are also investing more in their organic content on the brand. Through regular behind-the-scenes stories and influencer takeovers, the platform is giving brands the opportunity to share more relaxed and playful content with audiences. However, some features and storytelling strategies are proving to be more valuable than others. Here are a few lessons you can learn from some of the most successful campaigns and brands on Snapchat. 

The Good

Real-Time Marketing: Netflix (Gilmore Girls)

To garner even more excitement for the Gilmore Girls Netflix revival ahead of its November 2016 release, the Netflix team enacted a massive offline-meets online Snapchat campaign. Netflix took over 200 cafes and effectively turned them into Luke’s Diner, the Gilmore Girls casts’ main hangout on the show. Each cafe distributed cups with a Snapchat QR code that gave customers access to a custom Luke’s Diner filter on the app. The one day stunt was a massive success as the branded filter was viewed over 880,00 times.

GE: Storytelling

Since 2014, General Electric (GE) has been a brand that has used Snapchat’s storytelling capabilities to the fullest extent. From launching geo-targeted travel filters over the holidays to all-star story appearances from Buzz Aldrin, GE uses Snapchat to educate and entertain their followers about the wonders of science. In 2016, the company even livestreamed a 1,200 foot descent into a volcano on the platform. The channel is not devoted to selling GE products, but rather, its primary intent is to teach audiences interesting lessons - lessons that often entice to audiences to visit GE’s social profiles for more explorations. GE continues to push the boundaries of creative education and video storytelling by utilizing all of Snapchat’s features. 

Taco Bell: Sponsored Filters

To celebrate Cinco De Mayo in 2016, Taco Bell launched a giant Taco filter. While the images of people’s heads as tacos were frightening, the filter’s stats were anything but scary. The viral filter racked up 224 million impressions for Snapchat throughout the one-day only marketing campaign. Taco Bell has always been on the cutting edge of Snapchat because it never took itself too seriously on the platform; their ongoing platform success stems from a willingness to get content creative and take risks. It’s content is filled with hand-drawn illustrations and playful copy. And as the Giant Taco filter proved, funny and playful content on Snapchat can generate big brand results.

The Bad

Discover 

Snapchat Discover has had a difficult time resonating with the platform’s primary demographics. Perhaps it’s because the intention of Snapchat Discover, to bring news, entertainment, and pop culture coverage to the platform, is so disconnected from why people use Snapchat in the first place: to connect with people through playful fleeting stories. But Snapchat Discover is enticing for brands, because it gives them an opportunity to slip more traditional ads between publishers’ content. Some argue that the wave of publishers is diluting the app, as the more publishers that get added, the less spontaneous Snapchat feels. Since Discover’s 2016 redesign, publishers have seen a 28% drop off after the first story. However, a decrease in engagement has stopped partners from signing up. 

While time will only tell if the Discover section becomes less disruptive for Snapchat users, one thing is for certain today: there are other, effective ways to engage with audiences on the network.

 What's the Conclusion?

In the coming years Snapchat will only become more valuable to brands. Snapchat is quickly attracting older audiences, which means that the platform’s diversity should attract brands across verticals. The brands that can constantly utilize Snapchat’s features to their fullest extent and experiment with ongoing storytelling angles will be the ones best positioned to transform on-platform engagement into off-platform results. 

WHAT'S NEXT: The Evolution of Social Platforms and Their Influence on Daily Life

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*by andreascy*