We have come a long we since the time of hand-drawn maps and ignorant explorers. The 21st century is the age of technological reinvention. Organizations all over the world are locked in the race to create bigger and better things. Global Positioning Systems has made the world smaller. And now, indoor navigation aims to make even more digitally detailed.

What is Indoor Navigation System?
While GPS has made tremendous strides in improved connectivity and mapping out the world, penetrating closed structures still remains a challenge. Indoor navigation aims to rectify this. Using a combination of different technologies, like Radio Frequency, Ultrasounds, Bluetooth, etc, companies are now trying to accurately map out the inner surface of homes, hospitals and public buildings. It is estimated that by 2020, indoor positioning will be  a larger market than GPS ever was.

What is IoT?
The “Internet of Things”, also called IoT, refers to a variety of devices capable of connecting to a network and transmitting information. Coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999, the phrase went gained popularity since it could collectively bring a variety of networks like wireless networks, microelectomechanical systems, microservices and the internet under one umbrella. Thus, it effectively transcended the barrier between Operational technology (OT) and Informational Technology (IT).

How they can be coupled
Smart items are the latest trend in an increasingly connected world. Having objects able to send and receive data has a added a different dimension to human interaction with them. Thus, it is a not a huge leap to have normal items perform additional tasks. Indoor navigation makes use of this principle.

Phones and tablets can use geo-positioning to chalk out location and position. Devices can be equipped with infrared sensors to accurately detect location. Thus, we can build an integrated platform that sends data to a collective platform which can build an accurate map that will far surpass the blue dot of a GPS.

Some examples of this concept are:

• An office can track schedules and itineraries of employees. Thus the system can tally attendance of a number of people with particular rooms for scheduled times verifying meetings and conferences. This can accurately map out meeting rooms in buildings and also point out which rooms are full. The elevator can also be made to act flexibly in terms of number of people based on tracking algorithms. This approach can be termed as “Connected Enterprise”.
• Evacuations can be helped by smart devices projecting location of trapped people. Intelligent smoke detectors can send data to rescue teams thus telling them how many people still remain. Heat sensors fail in case of fires, thus other technology can utilized to map out the building and by comparing to previous records, firemen can detect collapsed structures and barred exits. The system can also plot out a route to safety.
• Airports are often confusing places and it is a challenge for people to find correct terminals or spot exits. This can be made even more difficult for the visually impaired. Smart devices and sensors can transmit data to people’s phones in order to help them navigate the place accurately. In face, Apple’s iBeacon has been used to guide travellers in San Francisco airport with success.

Most indoor positioning systems still struggle with accuracy and precision. Charting out accurate locations in small structures often poses a challenge. However, the opportunities with technologies are limitless and tech firms recognize that. Thus it won’t be long before success is achieved.

‘It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle money. It is the customer who pays the wages’:  Henry Ford

A customer is the most important part in a business. If your customer base is sound, your business will surely run smooth. How to make a sound customer base? Well, there are no short-cuts to success. You need hard work and dedication to build customer relations and it doesn’t happen overnight. However, the direction of your hard work often determines the amount of success you are going to get. Sometimes, despite being hard working, people don’t succeed just because they are working in the wrong direction.  A Real Estate CRM software might help you in stepping towards the right direction. Dealing with customershas become much easier with the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software. It comes with a variety of features to help you expand your business relations. From plans for investments to meeting up with new clients, all of these things can be tracked and taken care of using this software. If you already have a CRM software and you think you are lagging behind in terms of customer base, you need to rethink your working strategies. Here are 5 tips that would help you increase your conversion ratio:

1. Addition to your sales funnel:

When it comes to managing contacts and other details, the CRM helps you put your best foot forward. You should regularly keep adding contacts to your already existing contact list. Adding new prospects to the top of your sales funnel is crucial for your business success. It will help you a lot if you have a list of people who are your ‘potential clients’. You can add contacts through regular meet-ups with people at various occasions, but without being ‘pushy’.

2. Segmentation of Leads:

Leads come from various sources. It can be either through social media campaigns, mailing, spheres of influence, etc. You must analyze which customer is comfortable in what media. Getting into the comfort zone of the customer is one of the key strategies to business success. Try to reach out to them through their preferred media in their preferred language. A CRM software helps you do this quite comfortably. The cloud-based storage allows you to access the detailed information of your customers from anywhere you want. You can strategize your next move by sorting all your customer database and segmenting your leads.

3. Pointing Out Lead Sources:

The lead sources play a key role in bringing new customers to you. Be it through social media campaigns or word of mouth, you should analyze which lead is getting you more benefit. With a CRM software, you can point out your best lead source act act according to the same. You would then have a clear idea in mind about where to invest more. For example, let’s assume your best lead source is social media and on the other hand, print advertising is not being such effective. Now that you know that social media is your best bid, you can spend more on social media campaigns and tap your investments in print advertising to have more efficiency.

4. Personalization:

A report by AgilOne suggested that 79% of customers expect a personalized buying experience. As a customer, you would also want a company to treat you as a separate customer and not as a generalized one. If you have a CRM software, you can send out automated messages to your customers including their names which would give them a personalized feeling. CRM also uses demographic information which would enable you to reach the right customers at the right time. Customer satisfaction would help you increase your conversion ratio.

5. Enhancement Of Productivity:

Planning paves the way to success. You can enhance the productivity of your firm by implementing a proper plan. A CRM software helps you plan your meetings, strategies, and investments and thus enhances your productivity. With the mobile users in effect, the need for high productivity has become higher than ever.

If you follow the above tips, you would be able to work with your full potential and it will ultimately help in increasing your conversion ratio. Remember, your customers are your biggest assets. Pleasing them today will please you tomorrow.

CRM is the abbreviated form of what is commonly known as Customer Relationship Management. Now, it is arguably the most crucial aspect in a business since customers are the soul of any corporate business. Knowing what the customers need and what they absolutely don’t is something that has to be on the fingertips of the people in charge.

Marketing is something that is far from static. It has to constantly evolve as the customers do. Monolithic tricks to manage the relationship with the customers will lead you nowhere. For real estate agents, the most important aspect is to keep abreast with the latest techniques that would keep the customers returning to the agents for helping them look for the house that they would call their ‘home’.

What Kind Of Changes In CRM Are We Looking At?

Gone are the days when CRM was tethered to the desktops and the software in them. Times are changing and so is CRM. Here’s a look at the alternatives:

1. Mobile: Mobiles have probably been one of the biggest revolutions of all times. And it has all the important qualities that are needed by the CRM industry to work with the customers efficiently: It is handy and portable making the customers accessible at all hours; it makes the exchange of information between the customer and the seeker of the information much flexible. For example, through apps with a good user interface, the real estate agents can get a lot of information about the properties their customers are interested in: the type, size, location et cetera. Likes and dislikes of each customer can be analysed separately and can be preserved for later use as well. Using mobiles for customer management is an option that has a lot of potential and is very practical because we are living in times when mobile is one of the products that has the largest consumer base. So through mobile phones we can reach a large target audience which we want..

2. Cloud Computing: Cloud computing is another revolution that eased and untwisted paths leading to a wide range of purposes. In CRM, cloud computing can be used to store customer-related information in a categorical manner that makes the stored data search-friendly. It also makes the data easily available for looking up later when required. Thus, it preserves the data as a solid resource and can prove to be the best CRM for real estate. Actually, this is an augmentation to the usage of mobile phones for CRM. The information gathered through apps can be saved in the cloud storage. This reduces the chances of getting that information lost and makes it way more accessible than containing the same information in large bulky files and folders made out of paper, since cloud storage account can be accessed from any device and from anywhere. And hey, it saves paper too!

3. Social Media: Now, this goes without saying that in the current times, social media is a platform that boasts of the kind of reach to the masses like no other form of media could. And rightly so! Be it Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. You name it, and you would find an unbelievable string of numbers representing the number of followers of these social media platforms. What could be more important for building a customer relationship than such kind of reach to the common masses which happen to be the potential customers too?

Customer Relationship Management can be testing at times. It is not a cakewalk. It requires a constant interaction with the customers and their changing needs with the changing times.

Sometime or the other, practically everyone gets bolted out of the house without a key to use and a place to go to. You may imagine that getting bolted out of the house won’t happen to you, however, just you just need to wait and watch. Because sooner or later, it is inevitable. In case, that you don’t take precautionary steps against getting locked out of your own place, it would surely happen at a time when you are not on your guard and careless. Locksmiths may be the obvious solutions and people at Locksmith Toronto tech are actually pretty crafty and professional at the same time about things of that sort. But still, it won’t do any harm to learn a few tips.

Well, here are a few pointers to avoid just that:

1. CAREFUL SCRUTINY AND REGULAR WALLET CHECKS: Whether you keep your necessary items in your purse or your pockets, you can get in the habit of checking to see that you have everything before you leave. If you can do something every day for 30 days, you can turn it into a routine that will stick. Stop before you leave the house to see if you have the items you always need with you. You must check for your wallet, keys, iPod, and try not to leave your phone at home when you can afford to. Make sure to look into the key cranny of your wallet every time. You may think that cash is the most important thing in there, but losing your key or getting locked out can force you to think again.

2. HAVE A GOOD STASH SPOT: Have a good spot to stash your spare set and never ever reveal its location to strangers. Even better, you can provide a duplicate key to your neighbor to make things easier for all parties involved. You can use plant pots, doormats, fake stones in your driveway to make some space for a tiny key. Hide it there and make sure you remember its location for use in times of distress. But you should always be careful as this can become an invite for burglars too. Violating a window frame is quicker and more opportune for criminals. Still, that doesn’t translate to the fact that you should leave a key in an exposed spot where an intruder is likely to find it.

3. USE A COMBINATION LOCK: Combination locks are safe as they allow you to store the key in your mind and this way, it is safe and always with you. It may seem like a time-consuming way, but if it works for you, you must abide by it. You can try this with doors, windows as well as garage locks too. Short of making a car key, this can be the solution to all your problems.

4. MAGNETIC KEY HOLDERS: You can use these simple devices and stick the under the hood of your car or facein beside the garage door like any harmless lump of metal and hide a key inside. It won’t be exposed and no one would be any wiser about it. At the right time, you can easily access these magnetic key holders and get your door open without any unnecessary trouble or waste of time.

If all else fails, you can always get a trusted locksmith from Locksmith Toronto tech to come and solve such problems. Yes, you could break the glass on your yard entryway, or drag a stepping stool from the shed to move into a moment story room. Be that as it may, there are better alternatives!

The quintessential need for shelter has been of a cardinal importance to mankind ever since our evolution from apes to Homo sapiens. This necessity has led us onto many quests and has opened our eyes myriad ways of finding shelter. The early men took shelter in whatever crude dwelling or cave they could find but as time progressed, we pursued towards building our own shelters for us calling them houses.

Today, standing on the threshold of the 21st century, having witnessed a huge boom in the field of architecture and design, the ideas of house designing has had a radical improvement. Houses today are more scientifically constructed, built to withstand more than most of Mother Nature’s wrath.

Even the simplest of houses comprises four walls and a roof to protect the people inside from rain, storm and hail. We often tend to overlook the most important part of our house which needs regular maintenance that is, the roof. The stability of the roof has a detrimental impact on the stability of the entire house per se. Since the roof strengthens the entire structure, it is quintessential that the roof is restored or even changed for that matter to ensure the safety of the occupants.

The scary fact is that the roof of your house could be getting damaged at a micro level! The damage caused by moss and algae makes up a cardinal portion of roof damage called micro-damage. These microorganisms eat up the roof structure from the inside making it extremely weak and prone to collapsing.

If this has raised the hair on your spine forcing you on the frantic search of how to be aware of the symptoms of a weakened roof, well, your search is now over.

What To Look Out For?

• Keep a look out for missing roof tiles or chunks of concrete, curling shingles or other signs of wear and tear. These often lead to a weakening of the roof as the damage starts expanding and ultimately corrodes the entire roof.

• Check for the growth of moss, algae or fungus. These micro organisms are the cardinal cause behind immense damage to the integrity of the roof and thus a periodic check up is detrimental.

• Rusting of metals is another significant cause behind the deterioration of roof quality. Prevention of stagnation of water is the best way to keep it in check.

• Excess debris on the roof can often also significant roof damage.

The point of argument now becomes that whether to restore the damaged parts or to go for a full-scale roof installment? Well, the answer lies in the form of a question which is whether you want a temporary but cheap fix to this humongous problem or a permanent but a slightly costly way of fixing this issue.

While addressing a problem this big, I believe it not only necessary but also essential that we invest in a permanent solution considering the fact that the lives of our loved ones are at stake in this predicament of the roof collapsing. I personally believe that the project of installing new roofs should not necessarily be an individual effort but rather a government effort for those who cannot afford to do so. The major intricacies related to roof installment are best explained at roofing Toronto.

Benefits of Installing A New Roof

• Value of Property: Installing a new roof has a drastic impact on reselling your house as a new roof makes the house an easy sell.
• Resale Value: A new roof increases the resale value of even an old house by 30%.
• Exterior Appeal: As per experienced realtors, about 40% of the exterior appeal of a house is directly linked to the appeal of the roof.
• Energy Saving: In case of a leaking roof, your HVAC system has to work twice as hard to keep the room at a desired temperature which in turn exhausts a lot of energy.
• Cost Cutting: The fact that a new roof allows your HVAC system to work efficiently in turns reduces the energy spent and hence the digits in your electricity bill also reduces.
• Health Benefits: A new roof also prevents the growth of micro organisms like moss and algae and thus keep the diseases incurred due to them at bay.
• Safety : Prolonging the replacement of a dilapidated roof can often lead to collapsing and safety hazards to the occupants of the house.
• Technological Advancement: With the advancement of technology, new roof come equipped with state of the art technology like solar panels and even anti frosting technology.
• Looks: Your new roof can now even come with a skylight installed letting you enjoy the view of the starry sky at night.
• Peace Of Mind: New roofs are extremely durable and even come with a warranty and thus you can rest assured that it is going to keep you safe within the four walls of your house.

Therefore we see how having a new roof installed is extremely beneficial and even better than restoration. It benefits weigh over the cost incurred in the process and therefore it is recommended to anyone suffering from the problems of a deteriorating roof condition so as to prevent even greater problems in the future. Roofers Toronto are always ready to surprise you with their innovative ideas regarding roofing as soon as you choose to call them. Call today!

One of the most effective tools you can use in aiding your business is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. It can help you cultivate and improve customer relationships. Firms which have already adopted CRM unceasingly spout its glory, while others quickly jump onto the bandwagon. Real Estate CRM Software is a fine example of Customer Relationship Management in the Real Estate Market.

A couple of years ago, aprediction was made by Gartner which stated that by 2017, CRM software sales would amount to a whopping $36.5 billion worldwide. The analyst firm releases CRM market reviews, critics and predictions every year. The 2017 prediction was one of its biggest, showing an increase of 5.4% in revenue forecasts. Earlier analysis postulated only 9.7% in growth rate. To a casual user, this may seem like a big leap of faith. However, there are several reasons for this astronomical jump in numbers.

• CRM is one of the fastest growing markets. It provides extensive help in data collection, data management and tracking algorithms. 61% of sales distributors use a CRM. Key access to customer information and data is vital to a business’ success.
• Surveys show that senior managing officers who have tried CRM do not hesitate to recommend it further. 75% of sales managers say that using CRM helps drive sales force and generate revenue.
• On average, for every $1 spent on it, CRM returns $5.60. That is a rate of return greater than 50%! Such statistics encapsulate just how beneficial CRM is for any company
• CRM software can create, establish and sustain leads, in both consumer and vendor markets. However, 75% companies have no process of nurturing leads. CRM use is a must for these companies.
• Reports show sales teams overall organizations showed at least a 15 % increase in productivity due to use of CRM by their organizations.
• CRM shows inspiring sales growth for firms. On average, when a company engages a customer using CRM, the customer is likely to spend 20% – 40% more. This is why more and more businesses are opting for CRM.
• Use of CRM creates a positive feeling in customers. Feedback suggests that customers who have had a positive experience are more likely to recommend a company to family and friends
• Use of CRM increased revenue per sales represented by an average of 41%. CRM also saw a 10 % increase in cash-flow in mobile apps and 24% increase in sales productivity.
• Marketing costs have been slashed by over 23% due to increased use of CRM. The software data management and data driven predictive engines allows targeted marketing aimed at specific customers.

What does this mean?
Use of CRM has been steadily increasing over the years. The vast advantage provided by the software has led to bigger and better sales opportunities that businesses all over are utilizing. World market trends show Asia/Pacific markets showing the fastest growth rate, with growth of 21.9% in 2015. China followed at a close second with rates of 18.4%. Middle East and North Africa and mature Asia/Pacific were also not far behind with all three achieving double figures in growth.

By 2015, the market had already reached $26.3 billion.

With more and more companies discovering the benefits and capabilities of CRM, it is not a far stretch for Gartner to make its lofty prediction. Companies all over the globe are making the switch to CRM, and anyone not doing so will only be left behind in the dust of its rivals’ success.