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  • Best Telephony Software

    Business communication has evolved over the years. Today, companies are replacing their conventional phone systems with modern communication technology known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). A VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone system is an internet-based telephony system that delivers voice calls, video calls, and multimedia using internet connectivity.

    Unlike analog phone systems, VoIP phone systems do not require any dedicated phone hardware. It allows the user to call any landline, mobile or even computer-to-computer with an internet-connected laptop, PC, mobile or tablet. Being a cloud-based technology, VoIP has revolutionized the communication infrastructure across all business sectors. It easily integrates chats, syncs applications, and provides real-time call data and analytics; thus enhancing organizational productivity. In short, the emergence of VoIP has changed the name and face of business communication.

    Top Telephony Service Providers

    Here, we have covered some of the  top telephony service providers that can help your business. So, let’s dive in.

    AVOXI Genius

    Telephony software, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) uses internet-enabled devices to make and receive phone calls. With AVOXI, your VoIP number setup is fast and easy. There are no setup fees or minimum contracts. Every VoIP number includes 20+ features at no additional cost. Get your virtual phone number today for as low as $4.49 per month.

    Avoxi Genius
    Avoxi Genius

    Avoxi Core Cloud PBX is a voice technology system that enables use of legacy systems while decreasing hardware investment and maintenance. The cloud-based system serves the following industries: energy, finance, hospitality, insurance, manufacturing, media and entertainment, nonprofit, retail and transportation. Multiple gateways can accommodate an increase in the number of phone lines as businesses grow. Customer features include a 24/7 support team and password protected access to a secure web where users can view all call detail records.

    Also read:

    CloudTalk

    CloudTalk is a telephony system built for modern companies. CloudTalk simplifies the lives of your sales and customer support teams with 70+ advanced calling features. Improve communication with prospects thanks to the integration with your existing helpdesk, CRM and eCommerce systems as Helpscout, Pipedrive or Shopify.

    Cloud Talk
    Cloud Talk

    CloudTalk is a fully featured Call Center Software designed to serve Agencies, SMEs. CloudTalk provides end-to-end solutions designed for Macintosh. This online Call Center system offers Queue Management, Predictive Dialer, Call Recording, Contact Management, VoIP at one place.
    Price: CloudTalk pricing starts at $15.00 per month, per user. There is not a free version of CloudTalk.

    Aircall

    Aircall is the cloud-based phone system of choice for modern brands of 3+ users. By seamlessly integrating with the most popular CRM and Helpdesk tools, they help sales and support teams communicate clearly and efficiently. Admins can instantly add numbers from 100+ countries, scale their teams according to seasonality, and gain deep insights through real time analytics. Accessible by desktop and mobile app, Aircall is trusted by over 3000 companies worldwide. Aircall is the modern phone solution for sales and support teams.

    Air call
    Aircall

    It is very user friendly and easy to use and setup and integrate with other software, web apps and services when building and testing a UC – Unified Communications Contact Center or OmniChannel.
    Price: Essentials Plan – $30/user per month, billed annually and Professional Plan – $50/user per month, billed annually. Free Trial available.

    Freshcaller

    Freshcaller is a cloud PBX system that enables you to purchase local and toll-free phone numbers in 90+ countries. Engage in contextual conversations with your callers without any hardware nor maintenance costs. Freshcaller is the ideal call center and business phone system for startups and small teams. With Freshcaller businesses can choose to record all their phone conversations and allow supervisors access to live dashboards and even listen and speak to customers in real-time.

    freshcaller
    freshcaller

    As a phone system designed for teams with little/no IT support, Freshcaller allows users to create a new account in minutes and configure rules, business hours, and routing processes that are executed in real-time. Freshcaller enables businesses to scale their usage effortlessly by adding agent licenses, purchasing additional numbers or phone credits, and changing their pricing plan at any time.
    Price: Freshcaller pricing starts at $19.00 per month, per user. There is a free version of Freshcaller available.

    Must read:

    Jive Voice

    Jive voice
    Jive voice

    Give your business a professional boost with Jive Voice. A cloud-based, feature-rich business phone system, Jive helps thousands of organizations across all industries and sizes to streamline their communications and achieve greater success. Jive Hosted VoIP offers a wide array of features designed to replace legacy landline phones, including unlimited voicemail boxes, auto attendants, and local and long-distance phone numbers.
    Starting Price: $19.95/month/user (Free Trial available).

    MyOperator

    MyOperator is a cloud-based business phone system providing solutions like virtual phone numbers (toll free/non-tollfree), IVR, call management features like call tracking, call recording, live call transfer, callers’ database, virtual receptionist and more. It extends the reach of your business 24*7 and routes calls to the right departments for a faster point resolution. It doesn’t require any hardware or software installation. This thereby helps save installation and additional infrastructural costs required while scaling up.

    MyOperator
    MyOperator

    Also, it allows you to work anywhere and anytime. All your phone calls, be it the ones you made, received or missed are tracked. This not only helps you upgrade your customers’ experience but also ensures that no prospect is lost. Facebook and SMS remarketing are the ways that MyOperator offers to help you reconnect with your callers and repeat purchase.
    Price: There are 3 plans available – Office IVR System (Rs. 2,300/month), Cloud Call Center – Desk (Rs. 5,000/month), and Cloud Call Center – Prime (Rs. 20,000/month).

    Flowroute

    Flowroute, the first software-centric carrier, provides communication services and technology for cloud-based platforms. By providing businesses with programmatic access to communications infrastructure services, Flowroute removes the complexity of introducing new communications solutions to the market.

    Flowroute
    Flowroute

    The patented nationwide Flowroute HyperNetwork delivers leading carrier-quality calling and messaging services with unparalleled reliability, reach, and simplicity. Flowroute is a fully featured VOIP Software designed to serve Agencies, Startups. Flowroute provides end-to-end solutions designed for Web App. This online VOIP system offers SIP Trunking at one place.
    Price: Flowroute is a pay as you go SIP Trunking service. There is not a free version of Flowroute. Flowroute does not offer a free trial.

    Relevant read:

    JustCall

    JustCall is a cloud-based phone system that allows businesses to collect phone numbers from 58 countries and make them appear as local digits to their clients. JustCall gives you the platform you need to manage your international customers in a unified location, communicate with them with a simple and straightforward solution.

    JustCall
    JustCall

    JustCall is a cloud phone system that integrates with your CRM or Helpdesk. Make, receive and log all your phone calls and texts directly from your CRM/Helpdesk dashboard.  Using different call distribution settings, you will never miss a customer support call ever. Give easy ways to your customers to reach relevant departments, allow them to remain in queue while waiting for an agent to come on the call or even give them an option to leave voicemails. Apart from basic contact center software solution, JustCall also provides other useful tools like Bulk SMS Campaigns, SMS Bots, Auto Dialer, Predictive Dialer, Dynamic Number Insertion etc.
    Price: There are two plans – Standard ($25/user/month) and Premium ($50/user/month).

    Conclusion

    Telephony Software includes many telecommunication features, from recording calls to creating a complete call center environment. Selecting the best software depends on your needs but the above list can serve as a reference. The software works as a fully featured telephone switch connecting to phone lines and extensions using state-of-the-art virtual PBX and VoIP technology. If you know about any other tool, please let us know in the comments section below.

  • Impact of Coronavirus outbreak on Dropshippers

    The coronavirus outbreak has reached almost every corner of the world, with cases only continuing to soar day by day. In the months since the virus has emerged in Wuhan, China, there have already been signs of a shift in consumer behaviour all over the world. With the outbreak still in its early stages in India, sales of groceries, household goods and healthcare items have seen a boost as consumers look for ways to protect themselves. But analysis shows that it has had a reverse impact on other sectors. The government is taking various precautionary steps to contain the spread of coronavirus such as Janta curfew and 21 days lockdown during which only shops or businesses selling essentials are allowed to remain open. While, the other businesses are strictly closed.

    At the same time, the impact of the coronavirus on ecommerce and online store is great. It’s a fact that a lot of things have been and will still be affected by coronairus. Unfortunately, one of them (what will be affected) is dropshipping! But what is Dropshipping? It is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product using the dropshipping model, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the seller doesn’t have to handle the product directly. In other words, it is more of online store. One of the biggest concerns these store owners may have is that consumers will stop making online purchases over fears that they might get the virus from overseas shipments.

    With many manufacturing and logistics facilities restricted or shut temporarily, experts have recommended them prepare for delays and take that into account before continuing to run paid ads and take orders. It is a good idea to check with your supplier, but assume that your items will not be shipped promptly. Or, if they are shipping things on time, disruptions to domestic shipping in the destination country could still cause delays. As a result of the continuous widespread of this virus, transportations all around the country are shut down partially or completely. This has caused the inability of all workers and employees to go back to factories and companies to work, which has affected operations in most companies.

    Also Read: How Dropshipping Works? Should you Start Dropshipping in 2020

    The Effect of Coronavirus on Drop-shipping

    The impact of COVID-19 has been massive on dropshipping.
    First, it means significant delays. Since the priority of the government is public safety, the authorities set prevention and control measures such as lockdown in place that disrupt the free movement of goods and people. These policies have left logistics companies in difficult situation, incapable to navigate the new restrictions, and without the government’s guidance, many are forced to freeze operations as they can’t provide a concrete answer. Moreover, Western sellers are confused about their action plan because most of them don’t know how to lower the possible financial risks. The forecast is not too encouraging if we consider the roadblocks and temporary closing of airports, highways, railways stations, and ports.

    In the same way, this uncertainty will disrupt the business of startups & smaller vendors who very often depend on the products they sell; smaller retail traffic could push them into bankruptcy. Their ability to survive depends not only on the quality of goods but also on a speedy delivery process since customers want to have access to products as fast as possible. So, these circumstances obviously unfavourable for them to survive. Stocks have been said to fall on fears that the Coronavirus could take a more significant economic toll than initially expected.

    In addition to this, the directive, orders from government during this lockdown have asked people to avoid travel and going out by working from home. These directives, orders from government which excluded emergency service workers and people who work for essential public services, urged the private sector to enforce similar arrangements. This means almost all the workers involved in the dropshipping process won’t have the chance to go work.

    The fact is, most suppliers of dropshipping business depend on factories. As a result of COVID-19 and the compulsory -stay indoor- thing, factories will not be able to produce products at the expected date. Because of Coronavirus, the majority of workers will not be able to come back to suppliers’ factories to start producing. However, according to the current situation, the return date of workers may be delayed, which means dropshipping will suffer.

    Drop-shipping is likely to be affected more due to Lockdown

    If in case, supplier or suppliers have product stocks available, what about logistics? Logistics companies are also affected due to coronavirus outbreak as most of their workers are at home because government has allowed transportation of essential goods only. With the Government announcement of borders closing and all cities’ transportation systems closed, there’s no way logistics companies could work. If logistics companies don’t work, then there’s no way parcels and other dropshipping fulfillment products will be shipped out to their various destination. Most of the suppliers’ facility has been temporarily shut down by the government. So, it has left businesses with dropshipping with no option but to wait for the situation to get better.

    Also Read: 10 ways Startups should be Prepared for the Coronavirus Crisis

    How to manage Dropshipping during Coronavirus

    • As mentioned above the reduction in logistics and suspension of flights is disrupting the supply chain that is causing delays in shipping, reduced transport capacity, and inflation in shipping costs. As a dropshipper, it is your duty to inform your customers about the delay. The delays should not be affecting for a long time. However, you still need to put confidence in your customers and ask them to wait a little longer. One also needs to be prepared to refund them and wait for the situation to become normal.
    • The capacity for carrying couriers has been compromised after the lockdown. However, services will be resuming at a slow pace and should return to its normal operations in the upcoming weeks. It is in the best interest of dropshippers to avoid standard shipping.
    • One must try removing fear from the customer’s mind by letting them know that coronavirus does not survive for long on a surface. The postal services are already using disinfectants and taking extra precautionary measures to ensure the safety of their staff and packaging.
    • Remove fear from the customer’s mind by letting them know that coronavirus does not survive for long on a surface. The postal services are using disinfectants and taking extra precautionary measures to ensure the safety of their staff and packaging.
    • Avoid selecting standard shipping and choose a faster shipping method until the outbreak is controlled. It is recommended that you use only the express shipping method during this time.

  • Why should you Focus on Upskilling Employees in Your Organisation

    Studies show that the cost of one worker leaving an organization could be expensive. This doesn’t include costs associated with interviewing and hiring a replacement; it’s a cost of time and money that goes into the training and development of a new hire.

    Upskilling, or reskilling, is a smaller investment than hiring and training a new worker. As you reskill your employees, you create a more well-rounded, cross-trained workforce, and increase your team’s effectiveness.

    94% of global learners perceive upskilling as an employer benefit, similar to paid time off and health insurance according to the 2020 LinkedIn Workplace Learning report. Employees want to learn, so the challenge for employers is to make learning convenient, useful, and most importantly, relevant.

    In recent times, Indian startups have also started to focus a lot on employee upskilling. We got in touch with the heads of a few companies to understand employee upskilling helped organization.

    How upskilling employees help organizations

    upGrad

    Founded in early 2015, upGrad offers online programs for working professionals. Owing to its commitment of making a future-proof workforce, upGrad provides its employees with a number of opportunities to help them enhance their employability quotient. It not only educate employees of the products and services but also, help them upskill their existing skill-set and knowledge horizon. You can read more about upgrad here . We talked to Mr. Mayank Kumar, Co-founder & MD, on how upskilling employees helped upGrad.

    Companies on an average spend a minimum of INR 30K to a maximum of INR 1.5 lakhs per fresher, to hire and train them, before they become productive. Through upGrad, companies can reduce this cost by as much as 50-60%. The rigorous learning that a learner goes through allows them to be able to hit the ground running on day 0.

    Plus, there’s no training cost incurred by companies post recruitment. Future employees and employers are getting to know each other well in advance. This is enabling them to develop a professional relationship even before joining formally. Companies adopting pre-boarding programs will witness a lesser churn, as these learners are developing deeper connection and more ownership in their roles.

    At upGrad, we provide training to new joiners of Fractal and Wipro. For these companies, a new joiner in Data role has to go through upGrad’s pre-boarding program, once the offer letter is rolled to the candidate. This allows the candidate to get acquainted with his/her role and be ready with the relevant job skills, even before he / she formally starts working for the organization as an employee.

    This kind of program is reversed engineered – basis the requirement of the role, these programs have been customized for the specific role in a specific company. Constant feedback is shared by the companies on updating / modifying the program, basis the company’s needs.

    On completion of the program, the candidate is absorbed in the workforce.

    PolicyX

    PolicyX.com is an insurance comparison portal helping consumers compare, choose and buy policies online. PolicyX provides health, motor, life, travel & corporate insurances from a wide range of insurers. We talked to Mahima Pandey, Founder, on how upskilling employees helped PolicyX.

    Upskilling employees help the organization improves its productivity and the performance per employee. The focus is to upskill the employee in accordance with the competencies and knowledge required for that role and this is a regular process which is being held on a periodic basis which in turn improves the overall performance of the Company.

    Rising Sun

    Inatur Ayurveda & Aromatherapy manufactures Organic and Natural skin, hair care and wellness products. These are safer, eco-friendly, and more effective skin care products. The company focuses on ethically sourced natural ingredients and drew inspiration from Ayurveda and Aromatherapy and ensured that every single product was crafted with Purity and Passion. We talked to Pooja Nagdev, Founder and CEO, on how upskilling employees helped Rising Sun.

    Yes absolutely training and upskilling employees works at all fronts. All of the employees stay positive and motivated. It further leads to increased productivity and employee retention.

    CASA EXOTIQUE

    Established with an urge to deliver incredible experiences, Casa Exotique has redefined a new benchmark for remarkable interiors and exquisite finishes. The company has been exploring the depth of Interior Designing and Styling with the help of a remarkable team of professionals who takes each and every turn to make your vision come to life. We talked to Ms. Bhawana Bhatnagar, Interior Stylist, Founder, on how upskilling employees helped CASA EXOTUQUE.

    As talented as an individual might be, there is always room for improvement and those who are hungry to learn more are the ones that end up on the top of the ladder of success. I believe by up-skilling our staff, we can produce people who are confident in their abilities. Consequently, they will feel motivated and would be able to attend to the customer’s needs in a better way – which helps both the customer and the organization.

    Packman Packaging

    Packman Packaging is one of India’s largest manufacturers of corrugated boxes, corrugated rolls, bubble rolls, bubble pouches, courier bags, POD jackets, duct tapes, e-commerce shipping bags and more. We talked to Gaurav Jalan, Director and Founder, on how upskilling employees helped Packman Packaging.

    Packman has seen several positive results through employee upskilling training. We have witnessed once the existing employees get trained they tend to stay longer with the organization. Also, this leads to good productivity.

    Once, the employees are working longer in terms of tenure it also means lesser time to spend for headhunting for new employees. The employees know that their routine will not be monotonous as the organization keeps on hosting such projects that also, keeps the employees motivated because they also feel that the company cares for them. And a content workforce is always a great asset.

    CarveNiche

    CarveNiche is an innovative edtech start-up, which is using latest technologies such as machine learning and advanced data analytics to personalise learning for K-12 education. We talked to Avneet Makkar, Founder & CEO, on how upskilling employees helped CarveNiche.

    Upskilling is the need of the hour and specially with e-learning gaining prominence in today’s situation. Ed-Tech companies have to be hands on in delivering the best personalized learning experience for students, at the comfort of their homes. For this, our employees have been trained in the latest technology and tools to help us deliver quality education to students.

    Esper

    Esper is a cloud platform that automates application deployment and management for Android devices. Using Esper, enterprises can configure and monitor Android devices for various use cases, keep them secure to help their business function seamlessly. We talked to Shiv Sundar, Co-Founder and COO, on how upskilling employees helped Esper.

    Esper’s employees need on-demand access to answers on how to do their job more effectively, but they also need content that’s engaging, entertaining and sparks new learning journeys. Sometimes, this isn’t related to their job responsibilities. Sometimes, it’s related to future skill sets and work requirements or individual interests. Esper hires curious candidates and we foster this curiosity with a broad range of learning journeys.

    We use peer-to-peer learning and social learning tools to spark new collaborations and the types of friction-filled exchanges that are behind real innovation. We’re continuing to explore new ways to make learning more convenient and on-demand for younger employees.

    Finally, Esper believes that preserving the human and social elements of learning is crucial —the same LinkedIn report found that the APAC region is doubling down on learning automation. Learning is ultimately about people.

  • Mr Shankar Krishnamoorthy: Cofounder & CEO of Synergita Software | Startuptalker

    StartupTalky is one of the strongest community in India and we have a  lot of professionals who are doing great in their lives. To share their  learnings and inspire as many people as we can, we are interviewing all  the StartupTalkers in our “Know the StartupTalker” series.

    Today, we have Shankar Krishnamoorthy as our interviewee. Shankar Krishnamoorthy is the co-founder and CEO of Synergita Software . You will learn a lot  from this story of Shankar Krishnamoorthy in his own words.

    Quick Facts

    Name Mr. Shankar Krishnamoorthy
    Age 58
    Education Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, The University of Texas at Austin
    Occupation Sr. Vice President, Digital Implementation at Synopsys Inc

    1. Tell us about yourself, your professional background and how you got to where you are today. What keeps you motivated at whatever you do?

    My name is Shankar Krishnamoorthy.  I am a co-founder and CEO of Synergita Software.  Gowri Subramanian and Bhoo Thirumalai are the other two co-founders of this company.  We have also co-founded another company, Aspire Systems prior to Synergita.  Aspire is a software services company which has global customers and rated as great place to work for the past 10 years consecutively.

    My professional background is a mechanical and CAD/CAM engineer.  Gained good software development experience during the early phase of my career; built several software products for our customers at Aspire.  Our experience in building software products for our customers & instilling best people practices paved way for Synergita.  With Synergita, we are able to help several of our customers incorporate best practices and help them create peopleMAGIC in their organizations.  Seeing their success and opportunity to help them through our product really motivates us in whatever we are doing.  Plus, opportunity to build a great product company.

    2. What are your job responsibilities and how they have changed over time?

    I am responsible for driving Synergita business and making it a leader in our space.  We currently have about 200K+ users across 100 customers.  We are managing about 2.2M+ goals and competencies for our users on our platform.  So, product is evolving and growing.  5 years back, when we started Synergita, it was a small team – each of us were doing everything whatever we can do.  Now, the team has evolved into multiple streams.  Product management, engineering, implementation, support, customer success, sales, marketing, etc.  Each team is driven by a leader who brings in lot of rigor and passion.

    3. Tell us about Synergita

    Synergita office
    Synergita office

    Synergita is an award winning, continuous employee performance and engagement software.  It helps in managing employee goals (KPIs), competencies, have ongoing feedback between managers and their team members, peer recognition, 360 degree feedback, employee engagement survey, etc.  Automates employee performance review process and saves significant time for HR and managers.  Employees love this as they get continuous guidance from their managers and there are no surprises during the appraisal time.  This increases employee engagement and reduces attrition.

    We have customers in India, Singapore and the US.  Some of our customers are Capita, Indegene, Brakes India, Lucas TVS, Vedanta Resources, Future Group, Yokogawa, NTUC Learning Hub, American Micro, etc.

    Also Read: List of Top Startups in Bangalore

    4. What are your plan for the company in 2020?

    Our Northstar is “creating peopleMAGIC” for our customers through employee best practices on performance, engagement and development.  We are constantly enhancing our product with newer capabilities along these lines.  This year, we have OKR, deeper employee engagement capabilities in our plan.

    We have recently moved to a nice, new open office @ Navalur, Chennai.  https://blog.synergita.com/2020/01/happy-new-start-at-new-location-synergita/)This will help us in better collaboration among our team.

    From the customer base front, we are investing on the US geography to get more customers there.  We have local sales presence in Chicago and we are hoping that these investments would produce results in 2020 for us and get new customers, increase customer satisfaction, etc.

    5. How do you see the Automated HR processes market growing in India?

    It is fast growing.  Organizations are investing in digital transformation to increase employee productivity.  If employees get good care from their company/managers in terms of setting expectations, guiding in their work, their performance will be better.  So, it helps both employee and the organization.  That is what Synergita is doing.

    Plus, there are lot of expectations from employees in using better HRTech products for their day-to-day worklife.  People are expecting the same sophistication that your Gmail and Facebook provide in their work as well.

    Also Read: Deepinder Goyal: Zomato Won’t Let You Have A Bad Meal!

    6. Do you think Employee Engagement & Performance software is a must for every organization?

    Yes.  It is a must.  Employees are critical for any organizations’ success and growth.  Lot of organizations put “Employees First” philosophy.  Happy and engaged employees will take care of the customers and hence the business.  If you want to do these, you need a good software which helps in performance and engagement…automates the process, proactively help all the employees in their work, etc.  So, it is a must in our opinion.

    On a lighter note, no point in doing performance appraisals manually anymore.  Major frustration for HR is the amount of time it requires to do one appraisal and they are not able to focus on strategic activities.  It is high time they transform their performance management with Synergita.

    7. Mention Struggles/Challenges faced in your professional/ startup life and how did you overcome it?

    Synergita Team
    Synergita Team

    In a startup life, there will always be bandwidth challenges in all angles – be it funding, engineering bandwidth, marketing, sales.  There will be conflicting priorities, lot of things to do in a short time.  You just have to prioritize to meet these challenges and move forward.  Perseverence is the key.  In case of Synergita, we have been fortunate to have a great set of team with us.  Driven and capable team.

    8. Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?

    We are a cloud company.  We deliver Synergita as software as a service for our customers.  We use cloud tools for our own requirements such as Freshdesk for customer support, Leadsquared for marketing automation, Amazon AWS for our cloud, Knowlarity for telephony, WordPress for our content blog, Office365 for our email and team collaboration, Zoom for web conference, etc.

    9. Where are your long term and short term goals? What are you doing to achieve that? It is sufficient?

    We want to make Synergita a leader in talent management space.  This space is evolving and there are plenty of opportunities in this space.  Every functionality – performance, engagement, development, OKR, compensation, recruitment, etc. are enticing.  With artificial intelligence capabilities, we can do so many things.  We need to do this meaningfully and bring in business sense to grow the product.

    As a startup, we are currently focusing primarily on one year goals for us and work hard to reach these goals.  These goals include customer acquisition, product capabilities, funding, etc.  For 2020, we have set 300K as number of users on our platform; add OKR and Employee engagement as product roadmap priorities; focus more on customer success.

    Whatever we are doing is not sufficient.  So much to do and so little time and resources 😊.

  • Coronavirus Challenges for Travel Startups & how to Survive them?

    The coronavirus aka COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread with no signs of fading away. Preventive measures taken by the public sector and by global industry are already having widespread effects. Most of the businesses around the world are facing many challenges and lower demands of their services & products. Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said the global economy may now grow at its slowest rate since 2009.

    With the COVID-19 virus spreading to dozens of countries globally, the travel industry is working hastily to both prevent the spread of the virus and navigate through heavy economic uncertainty & slowdown. Now, with the globalized world going into partial or complete lock down over the Covid-19 pandemic, startups in the travel sector are facing a huge stress test as well as immediate interruption to business because public health concern has increased and entire populations are encouraged or even forced not to travel.

    Travelers are reconsidering travel plans both to prevent infection and avoid being quarantined. Due to this, airlines are also facing a huge fall in bookings. Airlines have ceased flights to the hardest-hit areas and reduced capacity elsewhere. Similarly, many hotels are empty or facing declining fall in occupancy; conference organizers are losing major events, local tour operators have far fewer customers due to travel avoidance of customers as experts say that there’s no sugar-coating: It’s rough out there right now. Lean times are inevitable for the travel industry – that much is for sure. But among the furrowed speculation and fearful reports, some of the startup founders have been busy formulating ideas and plans catalyzed by the recent crisis.

    No to non-essential travel

    With restrictions on travel and large business events, many startups, IT majors and corporates have ruled out non-essential domestic and international travel. In a statement, IT major Wipro said: “Wipro has suspended travel to and transit through mainland China, including Hong Kong and Macau, until further notice. Employees have also been advised to avoid non-critical travel to Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Italy.” As many companies have asked their employees to work from home, it has caused decrease in travel. Asheesh Chanda, CEO of digital wealth management startup Kristal.AI, said all necessary precautions as advised by the government were being taken. “Kristal.AI operates in three locations – Singapore, Hong Kong, and India. Non-essential travel between offices is currently discouraged. We have asked all employees across locations to work-from-home.”

    In the same way, many travel tech companies have seen a spike in cancellations. In general the impact is heavy. While some have stated that demand is dropping off a cliff but it’s not as bad as they thought — but it is definitely heavy. Bookings are down by almost half It’s seeing similar changes in booking behavior. Advanced booking has come down drastically. TravelPerk told that it’s currently dealing with a drop in business globally of around 50%.

    Lockdown due to COVID-19 has resulted in low demands of bookings

    The co-founder and CEO of TechCrunch, Johannes Reck said, “This is the most severe shock that I’ve seen in the last 10 years. The irony of Europe is that we had a fantastic start to the year, consumer sentiment was high, and then it fell off a cliff a few days ago.” An airline trade group said last week that the industry will lose as much as $113 billion in sales because of the coronavirus pandemic. Also, Booking.com withdrew its forecast, citing the worsening impact of the virus on travel.

    Here’s some of the useful tips and tricks for staying afloat in these tough times –

    Look for bright spots

    If your startup has a global focus, look for bright spots of travel demand. Not every area is affected by travel restrictions and flight bans. For instance, depending on your business model and market, one can switch to targeting short journey. Another tactic is to target travelers from areas less affected by the virus. Take a methodical look at current travel conditions and compare that with your target demographics. Wherever you find opportunities, you’ll need to balance pricing with market share and thus customers can be attracted to use your services.

    Also Read: List of Top Travel Startups in India

    Work on your expertise

    The travel community has a unique perspective with many “boots on the ground” i.e. contacts in different places around the world. So ask your suppliers, distributors, partners what is happening on their end. So, by gathering information from them, your expertise can be utilized to provide customers what they are actually needing at this time. This can help with lowering cancellations while also keeping your team informed on the virus.

    Create your USP

    Travelers now face uncertainty and lack clarity over when, where, and how to travel due to constraints. If your startup has a unique selling proposition that addresses some of these challenges, work on it! Try to be creative and see how you might be able to apply your product to add new or unexpected value to the current global situation. Or, perhaps there are aspects of your business model that could be improved a bit to increase relevance in these circumstances.

    Partner up with others

    Now is the time to get creative with partnerships and building relationships. By joining hands with other startups which are also facing the same challenges, new solutions can be found to deal with current circumstances. As you consider potential partners, look for those who may be especially hard in this climate and needing cost-cutting or short-term revenue.

    Also Read: Coronavirus Impact on Digital Payments Startups

    Final Thoughts

    It’s important to remember that no crisis lasts forever and to attempt to look to the future. This isn’t the world’s first recession and it won’t be the last. It’s not the world’s first pandemic and it won’t be the last. The key for entrepreneurs is to keep a cool head about you, don’t do anything and adopt a war footing while your company struggles through choppy waters for 12 to 18 months in the wake of this pandemic. When the crisis recedes and the courts reopen, your company will need to provide an accounting of its obligations and answer for any it has fallen short on in the meantime.

  • Different Policies the Companies have Adopted to Upskill the Employees

    Today, business has changed its pattern. Technology is must to run any business.  Any business can invest in advanced technologies, but creating a workforce that’s ready to use them is much harder. So, Upskilling employees is one of the top most thing companies focus on.

    Upskilling is basically the practice of teaching employees to use technology to do their job. Using advanced technologies can save time, increase productivity, minimize human. So, companies are ever ready to add an advanced emerging technology in their portfolio, but if employees don’t know what and how if it, it won’t be useful.

    What Indian Startups do to upskill
    What Indian Startups do to upskill

    In recent times, Indian startups have also started to focus a lot on employee upskilling. We got in touch with the heads of a few companies to understand what they are doing for employee upskilling.

    upGrad

    Founded in early 2015, upGrad offers online programs for working professionals. Owing to its commitment of making a future-proof workforce, upGrad provides its employees with a number of opportunities to help them enhance their employability quotient. It not only educate employees of the products and services but also, help them upskill their existing skill-set and knowledge horizon. You can read more about upgrad here . We talked to Mr. Mayank Kumar, Co-founder & MD, on how they upskill employees.

    As a part of the new joiner induction process, we offer our programs to every new joiner in the company during the first month of their employment. This allows them to experience our learning platform + student mentor support + submissions grading and, of course, learn a skill that will add value to their profile. This program broadly consists of 1 week of ‘HR Bootcamp’ (explaining about corporate structure and an overview of the company) + 3 weeks of any other program as specified below:

    • HR Bootcamp + Customer Focus, Customer Behaviour, and the Digital Landscape + Branding (Digital Strategies-Digital Marketing Program)
    • HR Bootcamp + Exploratory Data Analysis (Data Analytics -PG Diploma in Data Science Program)
    • HR Bootcamp + Understanding Problems & Formulating Hypotheses (Business Analytics Program)
    • HR Bootcamp + Divide and Conquer Algorithms (Software Development – PG Diploma in Software Development)

    These bootcamps and workshops are conceptualised with an aim to keep our people well-aware of the industry trends both, domestic and global.

    Being a company that endorses upskilling, we encourage our employees to take up our courses to upskill themselves by offering them our programs at 100% discount for an employee who has completed 18 months with us and 50% discount for an employee who has completed 6 months with us.

    Also, there’s an in-house Learning & Development team that conducts workshops for employees at frequent intervals.”

    PolicyX

    PolicyX.com is an insurance comparison portal helping consumers compare, choose and buy policies online. PolicyX provides health, motor, life, travel & corporate insurances from a wide range of insurers. We talked to Mahima Pandey, Founder, on how they upskill employees.

    We have a dedicated team of qualified and experienced professionals who focuses on upskilling the employees so that they perform as per the expectations set for their role. They are involved in conducting new hire trainings, refresher trainings, bottom quartile trainings and other skill based trainings as and when required as per the training need analysis and requirements.

    Rising Sun

    Inatur Ayurveda & Aromatherapy manufactures Organic and Natural skin, hair care and wellness products. These are safer, eco-friendly, and more effective skin care products. The company focuses on ethically sourced natural ingredients and drew inspiration from Ayurveda and Aromatherapy and ensured that every single product was crafted with Purity and Passion. We talked to Pooja Nagdev, Founder and CEO, on how they upskill employees.

    At RisingSun we provide constant evaluation and training to the employees relating their job skill sets, health, safety, and hygiene. We encourage them to read more books and learn more with regards to their job.

    CASA EXOTIQUE

    Established with an urge to deliver incredible experiences, Casa Exotique has redefined a new benchmark for remarkable interiors and exquisite finishes. The company has been exploring the depth of Interior Designing and Styling with the help of a remarkable team of professionals who takes each and every turn to make your vision come to life. We talked to Ms. Bhawana Bhatnagar, Interior Stylist, Founder, on how they upskill employees.

    Up-skilling is very important for the growth of employees as an individual and the organization as well. We have approached up-skilling on multiple platforms because to foster an all-round skillset development. With our technical skill development training, we equip our employees with the ever-evolving technical skills needed to run the organization. With our soft skills development workshops, we teach communication skills to our employees to make them experts in communicating with clients and stakeholders. Last but not the least, we also arrange product and service training workshops to ensure that we develop good relations with our customers.

    Packman Packaging

    Packman Packaging is one of India’s largest manufacturers of corrugated boxes, corrugated rolls, bubble rolls, bubble pouches, courier bags, POD jackets, duct tapes, e-commerce shipping bags and more. We talked to Gaurav Jalan, Director and Founder, on how they upskill employees.

    Regular training programs are conducted at Packman to upskill the employees. also, employees are promoted faster, if they upskill themselves faster, this gives them further motivation. Packman makes sure to give balanced reward system so that other employees get motivated after seeing the growth of employees with better skills.

    Policy-wise Packman Packaging makes sure that every employee from the respective department stays updated about the latest technologies and trends. Employees working in the manufacturing unit are always trained whenever a new machine or technology comes in the unit or it is about to be installed. Similarly, from time to time Packman Packaging also conducts upskilling training for its employees from all the departments that include, marketing, customer service, and management teams.

    Packman strictly believes it is important to upgrade the existing workforce because only then the employees and company can grow together.

    CarveNiche

    CarveNiche is an innovative edtech startup, which is using latest technologies such as machine learning and advanced data analytics to personalise learning for K-12 education. We talked to Avneet Makkar, Founder & CEO, on how they upskill employees.

    Companies need to formulate a good development strategy to build comprehensive upskilling in the organisation. Having a plan would help you get buy-in from the organization’s leadership and from the workers themselves too. We conduct training for our employees on a regular basis.

    Esper

    Esper is a cloud platform that automates application deployment and management for Android devices. Using Esper, enterprises can configure and monitor Android devices for various use cases, keep them secure to help their business function seamlessly. We talked to Shiv Sundar, Co-Founder and COO, on how they upskill employees.

    Esper encourages employees to continually reskill, upskill, and pursue their passions and interests. Our employee upskilling programs includes peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. Every department gets one hour each week to share the knowledge of a subject matter expert with peers in an informal, open forum discussion.

    Hack Day

    Every other week, Esper’s entire team gets our hands dirty with a passion-based project. These hack days aren’t usually related to Android DevOps. Sometimes we work together to develop an app or learn new photography skills.

    Training and Courses

    Esper is continuously investing in new tools to help our employees learn in the flow-of-work. Our goal is to provide employees with tools to build their existing specialties and work more proficiently, like micro-learning and mobile eLearning. We’re also conscious that the future of work could require rapid reskilling, and we’re an agile brand, so our training options are forward-looking in that sense, too.

  • Best Document Management Software

    Document management (DM) software encompasses a wide range of features and functionalities, many of which are critical to effectively running a business. Many small to midsize businesses (SMBs), such as legal firms, creative firms, or media and publishing organizations, aim to go paperless and are looking for the right tool to do so. Businesses generate a lot of data regardless, so choosing a reliable and scalable DM system is key to streamlining and automating workflows.

    For SaaS companies, an efficient DM system can make better overall performance for several reasons. The most basic reason is having a place to store and organize documents. Version control, workflows, access permissions, backup, and data protection can also be handled by a DM solution. It is the starting point for storing, securing, and sharing various business documents. The ability to classify data is another DM capability that can completely change the way your organization maps its workflows.

    Top Document Management Software

    Here, you’ll get to know below the 10 best document management systems that can help you go digital, automated, and paperless.

    Confluence

    Confluence is an open and shared workspace that connects people to the ideas and information they need to build momentum and do their best work. Unlike document and file-sharing tools, Confluence is open and collaborative, helping you create, manage, and collaborate on anything from product launch plans to marketing campaigns. Today all kinds of functional departments of any size use Confluence, from technical teams and project management groups, to marketing, HR, legal, and finance. All teams get work done with Confluence.

    Confluence
    Confluence

    With Confluence you have an environment that is very efficient to work in to add new content, very easy to update articles and manage file attachments. Setting up spaces for various audiences, including a “personal space” allows you to draft documents privately and then move the document over into a space with an audience. The permission scheme is based on spaces, individuals and groups, with flexibility from super-locked-down to wide open on the public internet.

    Price: Confluence pricing starts at $10.00 per month, per user. Confluence does offer a free trial.

    Also read:

    Templafy

    Templafy
    Templafy

    Templafy is one of the best document management tools out there. The system aims to integrate essential office suites and solutions used by businesses on a daily basis. If there’s one thing that can be frustrating, it’s having to create brand documents using different software. This can become time-consuming and fragmented, but Templafy can help. With it, you can create a range of files within the system and manage them from a single feed.

    The software is compatible with a range of devices and uses the cloud to let you access all your documents across computers, tablets and smartphones. There are also automatic compliance checks, and you can give feedback to employees easily, too.

    Price: Contact is required for a pricing quote, and not surprisingly, the exact cost depends on the number of users, features and add-ons chosen.

    PandaDoc

    PandaDoc is a leading online document management platform that lets you create, deliver, and share documents online. It allows for legally binding e-signatures and supports various document formats like PDFs, Docs, and other preexisting digital documents for faster paperless transactions and processes. The software works well with quotes, contracts, agreements, and other sales collateral, and is ideal for use by your HR, sales, marketing, finance, legal, and operations departments. For that matter, any business or organization can reap the benefits of document management software like PandaDoc in terms of document building, sharing, and delivery.

    PandaDoc
    PandaDoc

    The software is an all-around document management platform that enables you to sign documents anywhere at any time with the built-in e-signature function. It comes with a robust but easy to use document creator with drag and drop editor, allowing you to quickly come up with all kinds of business documents such as proposals, business plans, contracts, and quotes, among others.

    NetDocuments

    NetDocuments has been the leader in cloud-based document management since 1999, helping firms to reduce costs and increase productivity with enterprise search, built-in disaster recovery, client, matter, and project-centric workspaces, and any time access on a modern platform that scales to both small and large firms alike.

    NetDocuments
    NetDocuments

    It’s powerful, cloud-based document management system helps your firm effectively store, create and categorize your documents and email. Collaboration tools allow you to easily share individual documents or even entire folders securely with your clients and experts. NetDocuments has made big strides in reliability and customer focus and these areas need to continue to be developed as they were not strong suits in years past.

    Relevant read:

    Dropbox Business

    Dropbox Business is a central workspace that helps teams stay organized and keep their work flowing. All your team’s content is in one place, making it easy to collaborate and focus on the work that matters. Dropbox Business is trusted by over 300,000 business teams worldwide and over 50% of the Fortune 500 for its industry leading file sync, collaboration, and extensive administration and security features that scale as teams grow. Companies of all sizes use Dropbox Business for collaboration, file sharing, online backup, and more.

    Dropbox Business
    Dropbox Business

    Dropbox is a great program to integrate with other programs such as Adobe PDF. It is incredibly easy to save all of your sales proposals straight onto the dropbox app from your iPad Adobe PDF app which saves you time and energy. My number one favorite feature in Dropbox is the ability to share a link to a file with clients and have them make comments right on the file.

    If you’re sharing a video, they can comment at exact spots in the video, and they can markup graphic files. Additionally, Dropbox saves you an incredible amount of time in the office, as you no longer have to request files from various members of your design team. With your shared Dropbox folders, everyone can access everything, and with version control, nothing is ever lost.

    M-Files

    M-Files is an intelligent platform designed to help businesses manage, organize, and track documents and information. It can be used by both small and large companies in a variety of industries. This wide applicability is made possible by a host of features that are bound to benefit any organization such as mobile optimization, version control, e-signature support, document templates, offline access, permission control, and automated workflows. It is equipped with a search engine for finding documents based on document type, names, and keywords, among others. It even lets you search inside the text of documents.

    M-Files
    M-Files

    The solution offers workflow automation capabilities and notifies you whenever document changes need review or approval. Likewise, you can send invites and edit documents simultaneously with its co-authoring feature. M-Files also offers enterprise-grade information management functionality, allowing you to securely share information with stakeholders or team members. The software integrates with leading CRM and office solutions and is available through quote-based pricing.

    Docuware

    Docuware takes a cloud-based approach to document management. It integrates cloud storage and office automation to create a digital workplace. This paperless approach to the full spectrum of office tasks is another example of the digital transformation which is driving many processes these days.

    Docuware
    Docuware

    Docuware offers services to create a ‘cloud workflow’ when it comes to documents. It allows services to be purchased on a small scale as needed, and then as use-case scenarios are created, and reliability is ensured, the service can be scaled up for a larger deployment. Mobile apps that can integrate into this workflow are also offered, facilitating the likes of scanning receipts on the go, approving invoices for speedy payment, and signing forms directly on the device.

    Must read:

    Box

    Box works in any browser and allows you to easily store and manage all your content online. It also lets you share files instantly and access documents from anywhere. No matter what device you choose, get fast, easy access to documents, project plans, presentations and videos. Always have the latest pitch for your customers, on or offline. Box makes it easy for administrators to maintain a central view of all content and users in their account through a powerful admin console.

    Box
    Box

    There are many things to love about Box. For one, its Business plans come with unlimited storage! It’s worth the price especially for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a secure place for storage with tons of extra features for both admin and security. The 5GB upload is enough for the big multimedia and other iso/archive files. For your admin, the integration with your Active Directory saves you from having to require your users to create/maintain an extra account (user/password) for Box. The corporate logo can also be incorporated into the platform to make it personalized according to your company’s branding scheme. Box also offers a ton of possible integrations eg Google Suite (e.g., docs), Salesforce (CRM), and MS Office 365. This makes it easy for users to create content as your usual platforms and then easily save and manage them in Box.

    Price: Box pricing starts at $5.00 per month, per user. There is a free version of Box and Box does offer a free trial.

    Zoho Forms

    Zoho Forms is an online form builder perfect for all business sizes. It helps you create and manage online forms by using a variety of field types and customizable themes. You can start from scratch or choose from the many templates available. The form creator tools, which include an automated calculation field, are also handy in personalizing payment forms. Plus, you can connect your forms to secure payment solutions like Paypal, 2Checkout, and more.

    Zoho forms
    Zoho forms

    The application also supports multi-page forms. By simply adding a page break, you can add and rearrange pages in your forms as needed. Page rules can also be modified to help your respondents navigate to specific pages based on their answers. Moreover, you can use email campaigns, QR codes, and links to share your forms on social media, or you can embed the forms on your website.

    Samepage

    Samepage is an award-winning project collaboration software that brings you collaborative tools, communications solutions, and document management capabilities in one cloud-hosted platform. It’s all about productivity, which Samepage lets you achieve through features and capabilities that include team chat, video conferencing, task management, file sharing, real-time document collaboration, and more. The software is designed to help teams of all sizes manage projects and get more done in a single easy-to-use workspace.

    Samepage
    Samepage

    This comprehensive collaboration solution for business teams gives you functionalities such as scheduling, discussion topics, meeting agendas, files, instant messages, conversations, and task lists. It is ideal for companies and organizations such as educational and non-profit organizations, marketing firms, and real estate agencies. It can be implemented across teams of employees, vendors, partners, consultants, and customers and lets you compile files, images, videos, conversations, and maps, allowing you to maximize the advantages of a collaboration platform.

    Conclusion

    Document management software automates the process of creating, uploading, storing, tracking, and archiving files. It helps users share documents, track comments and changes, and store documents in a centralized repository. To sum up, there’s a wide variety of document management systems that you can choose from. So, you shouldn’t worry about not finding a good option for your operations. Above softwares includes both standalone systems, and broader software suites that offer core document management functionality in addition to other features. You can choose a software that caters to your needs. If you know about some other document management software, please let us know in the comments section below.

  • 3 Milestone Gifts And Rewards For Great Workers

    Not all employee reward programmes are successful. Some have been thrown together without much thought, some lack imagination and others are not appreciated by those they are meant to celebrate. This is unfortunate, as a poor service award programme is a lost opportunity for an organisation. Done well, employee awards celebrate the cohesion, relationships and shared successes within an organisation, which maintains motivation and increases retention of valuable, experienced staff.  Here are three milestone gifts and rewards for great workers.

    Retirement gifts

    Retirement is one of the most significant life transitions in our later years. The approach you want to take with your gift, whether it be classic, utility, personal or just a joke gift will need to be considered.

    You can gift the retiree something that commemorates the work that they did, such as a framed map of the area they were responsible for, or a trophy engraved with a pertinent quote. Consider sentimental retirement gift ideas that do not obviously relate to work, but which are beautiful to look at, whether a sculpture, painting or photograph. If they had a uniform for work, this could be converted into a pillow cover using the tie as well as other emblems or symbols from the jacket.

    The expression of gratitude from past and present employees who have worked with the retiree, as well as fun stories and other recollections that current colleagues may not know about, make for a happy send-off. These can be written on post-it notes, sent by email or collected in numerous ways before being collated into a scrapbook of memories.

    Years of service awards

    Years of service awards should be far more than a “participation award,” for simply turning up for work for another year. Instead, it should be used to show appreciation to employees for their talent, their value, their accomplishments and successes whether it’s their first year at an organisation or their 20th.

    Organisations should work towards celebrating anniversaries with lasting memories, combining symbolic and personal awards. Cash is too impersonal since most employees will use this to pay bills or make other unmemorable purchases. Instead, tailor a gift to suit the individual, with a personal award item such as a food mixer for a keen baker, a mountain bike, jewellery, a coffee maker, headphones, cookware, a backpack or apple watch that the individual would not justify buying for themselves.

    Other service awards that employees appreciate are a personal note of congratulations from the company CEO or senior leader; a personalised card with messages and comments from peers and leaders, which when marking milestone years could become a book created online that past employees could also contribute too before it is printed and bound to be gifted.

    Recognition programme

    Employee recognition leads to a welcoming, productive workplace culture that helps individuals thrive. It improves both the quantity and quality of work, encouraging workers to reach higher, accomplish more and be keen to stay within the organisation.

    When an employee has reached a target, won an award outside the company or done some work that has had a significantly positive effect on the company’s reputation, profit margins, future sustainability etc., this can be rewarded through a recognition programme.

    To thank them for their contribution, a gift voucher for something they will enjoy, but is also educational, is a great gift. This gift recognises the individual is someone who has not stopped learning and is keen to continue learning more. Gifting a day off with a voucher for unusual activities include skiing, rock climbing, surfing lessons or a beginner’s lesson in ballroom dancing is a novel and fun experience.

    For those who have worked together to achieve or surpass a significant goal within the company, is to organise a team celebration that they request, from a meal out to a day paintballing or hiring a private karaoke room.

  • Coronavirus Impact on Digital Payments Startups

    Coronavirus is here, and it’s making a big impact on every aspect of business. From trade market swings to airline collapses, the economy of many industries is taking its toll and having major constraints. Whole worldwide especially in Europe, those living in Italy, Spain, Germany and France have been the most impacted so far and the situation is set to worsen. The indirect effects for startups have also been huge, but some businesses are faring better than others. While many struggle to operate amid travel turmoil, others are cashing in on the health crisis by supplying much-needed medical solutions. Some London founders even launched an entirely new startup (called Epiderm) this year to help track employee and visitor contact through check-ins and calendar analysis. Similarly, there are clearly dozens of sectors that will likely be impacted such as dating apps, concert booking apps, edtech, will-writing startups, fitness apps, remote working tools and recruiting startups and so on.Here we discussed about impact of Coronavirus on Fintech Startups.

    What about the sector of fintech?

    Like everything else, it’s also likely to be under threat. There’s more to come from COVID-19 in the coming weeks where large and small fintech companies take a hit. Some could even benefit. Fintech firms globally also have already benefited from more flexible regulations in both emerging and mature countries as many efforts are being made to improve financial inclusion and serve a broader digital economy. According to a report from Ecosystem, there were five key trends that were expected to shape the Fintech market during 2020. The coronavirus pandemic could be devastating for many companies, but it’s also shining a spotlight on the power of fintechs across the world. They seem to be responding to the sudden challenge effectively, though uncertainties lie ahead.

    Negative Impacts of Consumer Spending

    Fear, panic, and quarantine measure heavily impact consumer spending. Canceled flights, closed stores, and social distancing have resulted into a drop in transaction volume at all levels of the economy. This means FinTech firms in the payments sector like Paypal, PhonePe, Google Pay, Stripe, or Chime will collect fewer fees, negatively impacting their profitability and valuations. Hardware shortages could also impact firms like Square, that rely on digital devices to support transaction processing. It’s evident that large businesses are already feeling the heat with the coronavirus outbreak. Companies such as Mastercard and Visa have cut their predictions for revenue due to the scare. This is because many users of credit cards are unlikely to use it to purchase flights, which is one of the more common transactions for credit card use.

    The impact of the coronavirus outbreak is impacting both financial markets and consumer behavior as never before. At least in the short term, there has been a significant flight to safer investments by consumers, which could negatively impact venture capital funding of existing and new fintech firms. Combined with investors concerned with higher funding costs, the volatile market could be a catalyst for lower valuations. This potential drying up of financing to non-traditional financial services firms could force many firms to find collaboration or investment partners from traditional banking organizations. Some early-stage fintech firms may need to shut down.

    Chinese fintechs will likely face the worst negative impact from the virus. Funding for Chinese fintechs was already down in 2019, likely due in part to trade tensions between the US and China. In 2019, fintechs only secured $298 million, down from $1.8 billion during the same time the year before. Having originated in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus is making the country’s economic outlook particularly uncertain, and more investors may shy away from the market as a result. That means Chinese fintechs might need to prepare for an even less funding-friendly environment in 2020 and shift their focus to a sustainable business model.

    Positive Impacts

    Whilst we’ve seen many negative impacts recorded in the fintech sector, there is a bright side in which some companies benefiting from. It’s encouraged many companies to adopt fintech for the purpose of their business. For example, the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commissions company Ye Yanfei explained that blockchain is being utilised for medical data verification. Similarly, consumers desire for digital banking services will most likely increase, forcing many traditional financial institutions to fast-track digital innovation efforts. As a result, many legacy banks and credit unions may look to fintech firms or startups for assistance in bringing better digital banking solutions to the marketplace during this crisis. This increase in demand for digital solutions could provide a lifeline to fintech firms at a time when VC funding may not be an option.

    In addition, weakening economies may force government organizations and regulators to stimulate the expansion of fintech solutions. For instance, South Korea is planning to temporarily ease regulations on fintech and ten other industries in March, in an attempt to jumpstart its economy amid the coronavirus outbreak. The World Health Organization has also encouraged contactless payments to contain the spread of COVID-19. Moreover, Google Trends shows a significant spike in the search requests regarding online loans which is a good news for many fintech firms.

    Governments are appealing for Cashless Payment

    Many countries are also encouraging the use of contactless payment to prevent the spreading of the virus any further from the exchanging of money. To ensure safety of citizens amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Shaktikanta Das, asked customers to use digital banking facilities as far as possible. Das added, “In the context of COVID 19, RBI and the government together are giving emphasis on encouraging digital payments. And over a period of time, various measures have already been taken to establish safe, secure, stable and affordable retail payment system such as the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS).” In South Korea, where regulations were once considered rather strict in the fintech domain, they’re now willing to ease the regulations that they have. This is to lessen the impact of the virus spreading and having a larger impact on the economy.

    Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has appealed people to use Contactless Payment 

    It could boost demand for certain insurance types. The virus’ dominance in headlines may increase awareness of insurance and boost demand for health and life coverage, as well as business interruption and event cancellation coverage. For instance, the outbreak has led to many conferences and events being cancelled at the last minute. At the same time, insurers are not supposed to pay over claims of this outbreak. Most travel insurers, for example, exclude pandemic, epidemic disease or infectious diseases from their coverages, meaning that likely only few will be affected by the virus. A report has revealed India has shown a moderate increase of 7 % when it comes to availing online financial services during this period of social distancing.

    21-day Lockdown to promote Digital Payment

    India is currently going through a 21-day lockdown that was imposed by Narendra Modi-led central government, as part of its plan to battle the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Several prominent names in the Indian startup ecosystem have also been promoting digital payments. There are various digital payment channels people can use instead of transacting via cash. Digital payments channels include NEFT, IMPS, UPI, etc. Razorpay’s report highlighted that UPI, internet banking and wallet payments have all grown in India because of quarantine and social distancing. Surprisingly, Delhi and Bengaluru have noted a decline in digital payment but this is just a matter of time. Soon, digital payment will see a boom across all cities due to lockdown. So, this is a good opportunity for all fintech firms and startups to flourish.

  • 10 ways Startups should be Prepared for the Coronavirus Crisis

    The COVID-19 or Coronavirus outbreak has turned into a global emergency. It has no left no choice to entire nations but go into lockdown mode and economies prepare for impact. Many businesses across the world have already paused their operations as the pandemic requires social distancing, the closing down of services, offices and cancellation of events. Emergency preparedness plans have never been more in focus than this situation which has devasted many businesses.

    It’s true, we can’t neglect the fact that the Coronavirus hasn’t spared the startup communities. Just the opposite, many startup founders are worried about the consequences of sweeping lockdowns and restrictions and difficulty in managing to stay afloat and keep their staff onboard. In such situations, startups are more vulnerable than established corporations because of limited access to services & capital. So startups are understandably more worried. Many startups are calling for hiring slowdowns as well as spending curbs, cutting out travel and preparing for a very tough time ahead. For startups, funding seems to be the first casualty and those that are in the middle of a fund-raise or have small reserves of cash are looking for solutions. Those that have already raised funds and have at least six months of operating capital should be fine too. According to reports, though overall funding has slowed down, the best companies will still get funded with delays.

    However, pre-seed and seed-stage startups might find the going tough as burn rates rise and sales fall. It will be tougher for these startups to gain customers, find potential new business and scale-up. This, in turn, would make it more difficult to raise the next round of funding. Although we don’t know how the pandemic will play out over the rest of the year, it has many lessons on crisis preparation and management.

    This includes taking care of and preparing for impacts upstream and downstream as well as for potential impacts within the organization. Don’t forget that many of these ideas could also help lead generation and getting people to know about your company and your expertise, so the effort you invest in these good deeds will your company and help you too. Here are ten steps to keep top of mind while dealing with this crisis.

    Employees’ Safety first

    Your staff should always be your first priority. Make sure they are safe. That may mean rethinking some work practices – you may need to restrict travel and switch to meetings via video or audio conference calls. Some offices may need to temporarily shut and employees be asked to work from home; most companies have already implemented this for desk workers.

    Offer products and services free of cost

    During this coronavirus crisis, many messaging platforms,video conferencing companies, online learning platforms are free offering services and removing the limits on their services to help the students and employees working from home. Some startups have been wholeheartedly offering free or substantially discounted services and products to help. If your brand offers anything that can support either people hugely affected by the pandemic or those who are staying at home in a need of a boost to keep up with their lives, this is the right time to give a hand. This will leave a long lasting impression on people’s minds which will surely help in future.

    Also Read: Coronavirus Impact on Digital Payments Startups

    Work on innovative tech solutions to fight the Coronavirus

    What else could be better solution than finding the tool or technology that helps in containing the spread of Corona virus. If you have an idea for developing a tool that could in any way be of help in the fight of the COVID-19 virus, then start working on it right away. Even Government of India has also arranged COVID-19 Solution Challenge to encourage entrepreneurs to find a technology that helps find the coronavirus. The entrepreneur or startup providing the best solution will receive the money prize. So startups can see this as a good opportunity to earn funding during this crisis. Just act quickly and remember that even a simple app that would encourage the citizens to adapt more easily to the changed conditions can take your organization ahead.
    To know more about this challenge, visit the Official Website –
    https://innovate.mygov.in/covid19/

    Connect with the startup community

    Coronavirus outbreak has just started affecting the Indian market but it has affected Chinese and American market many weeks ago. So their experiences & mistakes in dealing the crisis can be used as guidelines on how to survive in the crisis. So it is advisable start connecting with the startup community not just in India but communities worldwide.  Some ways and solutions can definitely hey be found be found by interacting with these tech and start up communities. Just take Estonia, for example, whose tech community has already been tackling the coronavirus through various activities. Portugal has also put together a page for collaboration. There are many ways to help in the quick and smart development and implementation of the necessary measures. So, get as involved as you can and encourage others in your community to do so as well.

    Companies are organizing Hackathons for others to Participate remotely

    Organise or attend hackathons

    Many companies & startups have organised hackathon. This has paved the way and many innovative solutions that arose as a result of the to-date organised hackathons aimed against the Coronavirus are now on their way to be developed and implemented. So this can be done in India too. Many revolutionary products emerged exactly at these events and we now desperately need more of them to combat not only the emergency circumstances but effectively manage the post-crisis period and prevent further isolation and loneliness.

    Host free online webinars, podcasts or Q&A sessions

    In light of the latest developments, many event organisers are shifting their conferences online. It’s uncertain until when we’ll all be at home. So, people have enough time. This is the right time to stay connected. This can be done in many ways. One can go live – whether it’s alone, with your team or maybe with professionals from other startups. Online event, webinar, podcast, YouTube video, Q&A and what not available to keep in touch & increase the network. These platforms  can be used to give advice based on your expertise and help people to stay motivated.

    Offer your advice on remote working

    Majority of the companies have asked their employees to work from home. As a member of a startup, you are probably very well acquainted with the ‘working from home’ concept. But, bear in mind that millions of people have just had their first day working remotely. The newly-created situation has given thousands of managers no other choice but to lead their teams online, completely unprepared. This situation can be used to help them with tips in a blog, LinkedIn post, webinar to encourage people to get in touch by recommending them video conference tools & software.

    Also Read: 8 Tips to Stay Productive while Working Remotely

    Just Keep Marketing even in Crisis

    One of the biggest mistakes companies make in times like these is to cut back on marketing. It will be the end of you. At best, a slow death. Although, it is difficult to sell products & services in this time but it is a good opportunity to market your services & products. Do demand a better ROI on your marketing. This may be the right moment to expand and pick up the slack from your competitors and seized their market share.

    Check your coverage

    Business interruption coverage covers income lost when you close down your business due to a disaster. However, it typically doesn’t pay out unless there is physical damage to the business. Talk to your insurance agent to see what, if any, coverage you would have if coronavirus forces temporary closure. If got, this can be used to keep the money flow going.

    Have Patience

    This is the time wherein many entrepreneurs can lose their hope due to things not going well. It is hard to predict how long this is going to last. However, it is the most important to not give up. Though it may look difficult to put the things back on track, it is essential to have patience because like any other time, “ This too shall Pass.” Have faith.