Trends Of 2017 That Businesses Should Look Into And Follow To Get More Customers

In 2017 what is in trend for businesses big and small is digital marketing. Though marketing through traditional marketing channels, such as the television and newspaper is very much in, still with an increasing volume of people moving towards the internet to find out products and services, companies are bound to lose out on a lot of customers if they do not implement digital marketing strategies.

What Should You Implement To Make Your Business More Successful?

One of the first things to look into is getting a website. The website should be well designed with proper navigation paths and it should be search engine optimized, as only then will it be displayed in the top ten rankings of major search results. It should also be mobile friendly so that people can easily find and surf through it from their mobile devices.

Today’s consumers arrive mostly through such devices so by having a site that is compatible with mobile screen you are tapping into a huge pool of potential customers. The site should also load fast and should have a secure payment gateway for customer to feel interested in staying in or coming back again for shopping.

Any business is bound to get a lot of sales through local advertising. Opting for geo targeted local ads, you can get a lot of customers arriving in your online shop and will find sales figures to increase manifold. If you do not make use of this form of advertising, your company risks losing out to its competitors and will not be able to access the huge pool of customers that is out there and through which it can enjoy greater sales.

Today a lot of people prefer to do a voice search when looking for information on the internet. So your site should have content that is tuned to the way people do voice search. This will display your site’s page in the search engine’s listing which will in turn draw potential customers to it. Make sure to post fresh content on your website using articles, blogs and other posts through guest posts, blog commenting etc. on a regular basis.

Companies of all scale of operations can increase their sales figures manifold by looking into the best means of doing customer service which involves checking out the most popular marketing techniques of 2017 and implement them successfully on their online shopping carts.

How Transaction PIN Secure Your Digital Transactions: A Beginner's Guide for Every Payza User?

Payza is a leading online payment processing system through which money can be received and disbursed across the world, using just an email id. Secure your Payza mobile wallets digital transactions with a proper transaction PIN. This PIN is a four to eight digit number that you alone set.

What Transaction Pin, How To Set And Use It?

Hence when you want to move funds from your account to another account, it has to be used to authorize online transactions. Without the PIN, the transaction cannot happen. If someone unauthorized happens to see your Payza dashboard, he or she cannot carry out a transaction without the transaction PIN. Thus the PIN helps secure the money in your account by giving you an added security.

It is to be noted that no one from Payza online payment processing service will call and ask you for the PIN. It is to be used only when you want to send and receive money from Payza payment wallets. However many people have got calls wherein someone has posed as talking from Payza and has asked for PIN details.

Do not provide such information, as this can lead to unwanted and unauthorized debit from the account. It is vital to select a transaction PIN that is hard to guess and also change it every four to six months. Do not share the PIN with anyone and memorize it so that only you know it. Secondly, it does not have to be written down or store in the computer system, thus bringing on the possibility of it being found out and used. Any problems arising from your Payza transaction can be discussed with Payza Customer Support.

When you do any transaction from your home or office system, data is secure. However, when you try to do the same through a public wi-fi network, the result can be devastating, as hackers can monitor what you are doing and steal your password or PIN number. Make use of Virtual Private Network or VPN, which can be added to your Smartphone or home wi-fi. It is a tool that adds an added layer of security to your online transactions. Payza members are advised to do this when they log into their Payza account for any financial activity.

Important Tips To Protect Your Business From Cyber Criminals

Cyber security is a hot topic of discussion today. Owing to the growth of e-commerce almost all business have some or the other kind of online presence. However, this has also increased the risk of a cyber-attack. Often small businesses underestimate this risk - making them easy targets. Typically, fraudsters will do whatever it takes to get access to sensitive data such as credit card details, social security numbers, email addresses, online addresses and other user information. According to a recent report, it has been observed that cyber attacks target small businesses because of their lack of knowledge about security.

It is very important that businesses understand online security risks. It is important to protect consumer data and take steps to prevent cyber attacks. While risks of cyber attack are high, with the right fraud prevention methods you can reduce the effect of an attack. Listed below are tips to keep your business safe from cyber criminals;

1. Use security certificates and certifications technologies for your online websites to protect sensitive data and display logos to signify that your website is safe. Today there is enough awareness among internet users and they can identify safe websites by looking at site addresses. You should immediately notify your clients about any data breaches if they do occur. Protecting customer data should be your top priority.
2. Learn about security risks and if necessary avail professional services to build a solid cyber-security programme for your business.
3. Use a good anti-virus software and always keep it updated.
4. Keep your operating systems and web browsers updated. Make sure to install any patches that are issued by the relevant software providers.
5. Create and maintain risk management policies and procedures to keep your employees informed about what is working online. Implement clear internet and social media policies and rules for using email safely. Train your employees on best practices to be followed.
6. Get the legal stuff in place - you should be aware of your liability in case of losses through fraud and other data breaches.
7. Make sure your employees are aware of practices to be followed when accessing your networks or servers from home or if you have a BYOD policy. Also educate your customers on security best practices concerning WiFi access and password protection.

Tips To Prevent Cyber Security Breaches

Although there has been a growing number of cyber attacks, security experts say that most cyber attacks are known threats or variant of known threats. Their growing number has made it imperative for organizations, banks and financial institutions to detect and prevent cyber security breaches by employing defensive measures. Experts say that cyber security budget requirements will only increase as organizations digitize more of their internal and customer-facing operations using Internet of Things, cloud technology, and mobile devices. Let us take a look at what cyber security looks like for organizations, banks, and payment processors.

Taking Cyber Security Breaches Seriously

Cybercriminals are continuously looking for means to hack into organizations through network weaknesses. This can be prevented by implementing a policy that balances prevention, threat detection and response. An organization should invest in a multi layered approach to security by integrating all aspects of digital infrastructure. This includes network, systems, cloud based services and endpoint devices. Frequent updates to software to fix software vulnerability and stay current on security patches is a must. This will help to prevent attacks from the variants of known threats.

In order to increase awareness of cyber security breaches, there is a need for training and education programs designed to increase employee vigilance. The entire ecosystem including contractors and business partners should be made to abide by policies and control around cyber security as a precondition to work with the organization. All these measures can be most effective if organizations employ a proactive rather than reactive approach towards cyber security breaches.

Debit/ Credit Card Security

Hackers are usually looking for personal or payment related information and hence credit and debit card information is very much a prime target for them. This information is then traded on the dark web marketplace. To tackle cyber security breaches in debit/credit cards RBI has set up Cyber security and IT Examination (CSITE) cell within its Department of Banking Supervision. It has also issued a circular to banks on Cyber Security Framework covering best practices pertaining to the various aspects of cyber security. This requires banks operating within its jurisdiction to have a cyber security policy, cyber crisis management plan, a gap assessment with respect to the baseline requirements indicated and report unusual cyber activity within 2- 6 hours.

In addition, RBI has been carrying out IT examination of banks since the last year. It has also set up a Cyber Crisis management group to address any major cyber attacks. These initiatives by RBI are welcome as they enforce a security culture at banks and avoid cyber security breaches.

Online Payment Processors

As online payment processors can also be victims of cyber criminals, they need to take cyber security very seriously. This includes a use of SSL based encryption, fraud detection, and prevention mechanism, user education and data security.

My Review Of The Unified Payments Interface And App

Unified Payment Interface has been launched by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) along with RBI in keeping with the vision of making India a cashless economy. NPCI is a not for profit umbrella organization for all e payment systems in India. It recently developed a domestic card payment network called RuPay and has now launched the UPI app that is aimed at making cashless transactions easy and convenient for everyone.

UPI is built on the Immediate Payment platform and supports most common banking tasks. Immediate Payment Service also known as IMPS is an electronic funds transfer system in India that allows for instant real time inter bank transfer of funds. IMPS has been available in India since 2010 and is supported by almost every recognised bank in the country.

UPI is designed to allow transfer of funds between any two bank accounts using the smartphone. You can pay directly form your bank account to merchants offline or online. You do not have to enter any credit card details, IFSc code or netbanking / wallet password.

Image Courtesy: The Finapolis

Ease Of Use

UPI is a payment system and you have to download the UPI app onto your smartphone in order to use it. Any Android smartphone user who has an account in UPI-partnered bank can download the UPI app. The money will be debited from your bank account and transferred to the recipient's account instantly and securely. The app is available 24x7. It is easy to use. All you have to do is go to the UPI app, enter the payee ID, the amount you wish to transfer and click transfer.

Downloading The App

To get started you have to download any of the UPI apps from Google Play store that support UPI. Once you have downloaded the app you have to verify your phone number and link your bank account to the app. Once you verify your bank details you can start using the app to transfer money. The iPhone version is not yet available.

Convenience On Your Fingertips

UPI is interoperable between accounts so you do not need a different UPI app for every account you use. If you are already using the iMobile app and want to use UPI on that you can go ahead and do it. For example if you have Axis Pay UPI app you can link your ICICI account to it and transfer money from that account. Overall the app is very convenient for money transfers between accounts and also for paying bills and where you need to pay high value for items as it allows you to do payment via bank transfer.

Overall the app looks very promising and is the right step in India's path to becoming a cashless economy.

Learn How to Save Money

While everybody makes big plans including new year resolutions for saving money, very few are able to actually save as per their set targets. Sooner or later we encounter unforeseen expenses and our saving plans go haywire. Here are a few simple tips on how to save money:

Cash Over Credit

Credit card definitely has its benefits. Today most shops and service providers across the globe accept it as a mode of payment. While travelling, it is much more convenient to carry the credit card rather than wads of cash and it also helps in making emergency payments. However, fact is when you are shopping with a credit card you lose track of the amount of money spent. Paying with cash on the other hand helps you set an upper limit and you do not end up making unnecessary purchases. Trying to use cash more often than card is one of the easiest money saving techniques. Next time you go to your favourite store, try keeping the credit card at home and see the difference it makes to the bill.

Shop Smart

Rather than indulging in impulsive shopping, if you plan and organize your shopping you will be in a better position to leverage discounts, sales and coupons. Before making big purchases do some research online to determine which providers offer the best rates. Sometimes it might be worth delaying a purchase to enjoy a better rate.

Cook at Home

When you eat home cooked food not only are you saving money but also eating healthy. For most people, dining out is one of the biggest buckets for household expenditure. If it is not feasible for you to cook everyday, you can cook in bulk and store in the freezer.

Curtail Unnecessary Expenses

A little bit of diligence can go a long way in cutting down on unnecessary expenses. The electricity bill is a good example of how some good habits can greatly cut down your consumption and thus how much you pay. Similarly discontinue any service subscriptions that you don’t really use. You can optimize phone bills by signing up for family packs. The list is endless and there are a lot of money saving opportunities here.

India’s Life Insurance Business Just Got Its Biggest Player

2014 - 2015 saw a record number of mergers and acquisitions in the Insurance industry worldwide. UK alone had more that 64 insurance companies that were either merged or acquired by bigger rivals. As the industry learns to live with consolidations, we see similar trends in the life insurance business worldwide.

Creating India’s Biggest Insurance Company
Two Indian companies are making news headlines as they have came together to form India’s biggest insurance company. Insurance is a relatively small industry in India. For a country with a population of over 1 billion people,  only a small percentage of people have access to general and health insurance. There are about 50 odd insurance companies in India and the country accounts for 1.5% of the world’s total insurance premiums.

MAX Life & HDFC Life Merge
HDFC bank has earned a reputation for itself as India’s most valuable lender over the last 20 years. The HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company is India’s third biggest life insurer in the private sector. Max Life, a subsidiary of Max Financial Services is India’s fourth biggest life insurer. As these two big players come together, they will create HDFC Life - India’s biggest insurance company. The new company is valued at $10 billion, a big deal for the Indian Life Insurance business.

Src: Youtube

A Well Timed Move
HDFC Life should greatly increase market penetration as the two insurance companies complement each other’s customer base and services. It definitely is an exciting time for their shareholders who have seen their shares go up in value. HDFC Life is also expected to make insurance more affordable in India - this has always been the challenge in getting people to sign up for insurance in the country. A KPMG report pegs the Indian insurance industry to be worth more than $400 billion by the year 2020. Hence this is the right time for Max Life and HDFC life to come together and make a joint effort to leverage the huge opportunity the country life insurance business promises.

As with all mergers, this one will also need to go through the mandatory approvals from shareholders, regulators and government authorities in India.