Remote Developers Are Part of the Liquid Workforce
The concept of a liquid workforce (see Forbes, Banco Santander, etc.) is mostly about this: A part of the workforce is not permanent and can be adapted to dynamic market conditions. In short, in a liquid workforce, a proportion of the staff is made of freelancers, contractors, and other non-permanent employees. Today, it is reported that about 20% of an IT workforce, including software developers, is liquid in a significant part of the Fortune 500 companies.
Figure: It is reported that about 20% of an IT workforce is liquid in a significant part of the Fortune 500 companies.
Actually, working as a freelancer has been a common practice in the media and entertainment industry for a long time. Many other industries are catching up to this model today. From the gig economy to the increasing sentiment stemming from Gen-Y and Gen-Z’ers that employment should be flexible, multiple catalysts are contributing to the idea that the liquid approach is likely to continue eroding the classic workforce.
In today’s changing business environment, it has become crucial for organizations to integrate IT systems and technologies to stay competitive seamlessly. Ensuring an onboarding process is essential so employees can quickly adapt to these changes...
Find out how a lack of understanding and accountability in government spending could be burning your tax dollars in the rush to fund AI projects.
Talking about AI is all over the place these days, and debates on risks, ethical concerns, and copyright issues are getting plenty of airtime. These issues are important, sure, but there's another immediate danger when one topic grabs all the headlines: the waste of tax money that could be better spent.
It's a pattern we've seen before: a topic gets hot, and suddenly, tax money is thrown at it often so hastily that it ends up misplaced or squandered. Take the post-pandemic period, for example. Many countries faced scandals over mask procurement, with officials caught in bribery schemes. Then there's the shady 35 billion vaccine deal between the EU and Pfizer, now under scrutiny by the EU prosecutor's office. The push against global warming has also seen its share of issues, like the questionable practice of carbon offset trading and climate aid disappearing. The U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre warns that "corruption within climate finance threatens the global achievement of [climate] goals".
And now, AI is falling into the same trap. As non-expert decision-makers (our representatives) are allocating huge sums to areas they don't fully understand, we need to be vigilant. This article exposes instances where government funds have been wasted on so-called AI initiatives, explore why this keeps happening, and advocate for transparent use of tax money.
The Problem With IT
In 2024, the Biden administration earmarked billions for AI across various departments, including a $1.8 billion grant for the Department of Defense to adopt and deliver AI capabilities. However, the U.S. governments track record with IT projects is dismal. From 2003 to 2012 only 6.4% of federal IT projects with labor costs of above $10 million were considered successful. The same analysis found that 52% of large projects were "challenged", and 41.4% as straight-out failures. Issues ranged from overambitious project scopes to reliance on outdated systems and complex stakeholder involvement. The takeaway? When government money flows into IT, especially on a large scale, there's a high chance your tax dollars are going down the drain.
Furthermore, AI investments have been misappropriated. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, for instance, was granted funds for surveillance to curb crime using facial recognition. However, this technology was misused by public housing authorities to spy on residents and harass them over minor housing violations and, in some cases, to evict them based on the surveillance footage. Such occurrences should raise alarms about the efficiency and appropriate use of large-scale IT investments, especially in AI.
Big Money for a Thin Layer on Top
When government officials jump on a bandwagon, they often don't really understand what they're buying into. A recent incident in Europe is a prime example:
At the start of the year, the Austrian public employment service Arbeitsmarktservice (AMS) unveiled its AI chatbot, Berufsinfomat. AMS introduced it as a digital transformation flagship, costing 300,000. However, it was soon exposed by hacktivist Mario Zechner and others, that the chatbot is essentially a very thin layer on-top of ChatGPT, created by a company called goodguys.ai, which sells off-the-shelf software that use OpenAI's API. Furthermore, the frontend code appears to have been largely generated by ChatGPT itself. Given the exorbitant cost of 300,000, the project's justification is highly questionable. Worse, the Berufsinfomat faced backlash for biased responses, suggesting stereotypical career paths based on gender, such as IT or trade to a male, and gender studies or philosophy to a female high-school graduate. When confronted with such criticism, Johannes Kopf, chairman of the board of AMS, responded that We have already achieved a lot. We're still on it. thus implying that they have any meaningful control over the ChatGPT-based bots output, a notion that is far from the truth.
This illustrates how the officials in charge of such investments have little idea what they are buying, and what the actual possibilities and limitations of such software are.
What Can Taxpayers Do?
Transparency and accountability are key. The implementation of digital platforms that allow real-time tracking of government expenditures might be the best solution. This would grant us a level of transparency that would make it much harder for those in charge of public spending to waste large sums on AI projects with little substance, or on frivolous expenses like $20,000 trashcans. Government bids must be transparent and open to public scrutiny, ensuring that simple software solutions are not excessively overpriced. Moreover, special attention is needed in scrutinizing AI implementations, given their potential for bias and impact on privacy.
Its actually quite straightforward: private lives should remain private, and public decisions and expenditures should be transparent. Perfect transparency might not be the preference of decision-makers who are comfortable spending money they didnt earn, but in 2024, theres no excuse for taxpayers not to have access to every invoice funded by their taxes, ensuring clear insight into how public money is spent.
According to a recent survey, 74% of IT decision-makers have expressed concerns about the cybersecurity risks associated with LLMs, such as the potential for spreading misinformation.
The world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is booming with new capabilities, mainly owing to generative AI and its popular subset—Large Language Model (LLM).
In recent times, some have become fixated on coaching,while others have been captivated by the possibilities of AI. But have you ever wondered how these two distinct realms intersect? Are you curious about how coaching can support the IT industry and amplify the potential of AI? Keep reading.
What’s up With IT in an AI-Driven World?
To clarify upfront, this article isn't exclusively tailored for Team Leads, Scrum Masters, Project Managers, or those in management roles. It's also relevant for IT engineers and consultants who are contemplating bringing more value to app development or IT services in a world driven more and more by AI.
As part of the DZone Expert Insights Series — a collection of contributed articles written by industry experts in enterprise software categories — Siarhei Valenda, Head of Automated Information Systems Development at LeverX Group, explains why enterprise software integration is crucial for smooth company operation and how to build a unified IT ecosystem.
Siloed enterprise systems have always been a significant obstacle to smooth operation. In practice, software from various suppliers, developed using different technologies, couldn’t ensure this. Instead of operating seamlessly, companies locked access to valuable and relevant data, lost orders, partially completed agreements, and lost revenue opportunities. In 2020, the impact of these issues became far more apparent due to COVID-19 and accelerated Cloud migration.
A few weeks ago, my laptop crashed during a meeting. It was painful as I was about to start on an exciting new feature that my Product Owner (PO) had just proposed. I immediately rushed to the IT department for assistance, and they informed me that they needed to take a backup and completely rebuild my laptop. They estimated that rebuilding would take slightly over a half day to complete. Feeling frustrated, I asked myself: “Can I code without my laptop?”. In the past, I would have answered ‘NO’ without hesitation. But on second thought, I realized that I know my system well and am also familiar with the domain. After more introspection, I recognized that I was already doing it without consciously realizing it. So, I went to my PO and requested him to print the new requirements for me.
From Requirements to Success Criteria
There are numerous factors that a software engineer must consider before writing even a single line of code. First and foremost is understanding the business problem and who the actors are. Once you have a clear understanding of the requirements, it enables you to identify any flaws in the requirements or if it contradicts any existing features. You can then break it down into manageable pieces and think about how to reuse those pieces or determine if something already exists. This process helps you to define the final success criteria.
ServiceNow is a unique knowledge-based software on the market. Despite being branded as a workflow management tool, it’s packed with sufficient knowledge management features to provide customers and employees prompt and anytime, anywhere self-help. Expect machine learning tools to identify knowledge gaps, article versioning, and feedback management tools that make it easy to boost customer and employee satisfaction.
The only issue is ServiceNow can be slightly complicated for some, considering its complex setup and complicated integrations and customizations. The Quicksprout research team has compiled a list of the best ServiceNow alternatives that are user-friendly and offer similar high-performing features.
Instead of being a traditional knowledge-based software, Heroic KB is a plugin that lets you create and manage a knowledge base directly on a WordPress website. Thanks to its AJAX-powered instant search, your employees and customers can easily find answers to their queries in seconds.
Heroic KB can seamlessly integrate with any WordPress theme, allowing you to add or edit articles, attach files, create custom categories and tags, and password-protect and hide articles. What’s more, customers can vote on articles to indicate whether they found the article helpful.
Built-in analytics give you more insight into how your articles are performing, helping you create a more robust knowledge base.
How Heroic KB Compares to ServiceNow
If you own a small- to medium-sized WordPress website, Heroic KB should certainly be one of your first choices. It gives you all the functionalities you need to build a well-structured knowledge base, whether it’s adding new features, functions, or integrating third-party apps—all in just a few clicks.
If your business uses WordPress, the Heroic KB plugin will fit right in.
Contrarily, ServiceNow is more suitable for bigger businesses, especially for making onboarding workflows and transitions. Its features are definitely more advanced and include an innovative search, machine learning tools, and a service portal to streamline customer support.
But these advanced capabilities of ServiceNow make the setup slightly more complicated compared to Heroic KB. Additionally, the latter gives you full control of your knowledge base, meaning you don’t have to abide by the rules of the devs.
The other factor to note is the pricing. While both knowledge base software tools aren’t the most affordable options on the market, ServiceNow has steeper pricing; Heroic KB is cheaper to set up and use.
Helpjuice — Best Knowledge Base Software for Scalable Support
Helpjuice has many things going for it in the knowledge base niche—it’s fully customizable, scalable, and incredibly user-friendly. It’s no surprise that over 130,000 users from a diverse range of companies like Amazon, Virgin Mobile, and WHO trust Helpjuice.
Growing customer service teams will particularly find Helpjuice useful. They can use it to collaborate, comment, and reply to knowledge base content to improve articles in real-time. Moreover, new team members can start using the software almost immediately, thanks to the non-existent learning curve.
Other features include a robust search feature, several knowledge base themes, and intelligent analytics.
How Helpjuice Compares to ServiceNow
In terms of value for money, ServiceNow is more expensive to implement, but that’s understandable since it offers more features than Helpjuice.
For flexible, customizable features, Helpjuice is for you.
ServiceNow has built-in AI-powered analytics that identifies knowledge gaps and provides answers for the same. Machine learning tools allow for better reporting, while knowledge blocks ensure all relevant knowledge is grouped together to reduce total search time.
If you don’t need the advanced features ServiceNow has to offer, choosing Helpjuice’s specialized knowledge management solution makes more sense to empower your customers with access to valuable self-service information. (It also saves you money, as Helpjuice is quite a bit cheaper than ServiceNow.)
HelpJuice has an AI-powered search engine that simplifies the search for all types of content, plus it offers analytics tools to help you understand user search patterns and ideal knowledge base usage. Live commenting features promote easy collaboration between the members in real time.
Document360 is another popular solution in the knowledge base software space and is well-suited for teams looking for a reliable tool for technical writing.
From how-to guides to release notes to system documents, Document360 is the perfect solution to create top-notch, consistent technical documentation without extra effort. Use it to create technical SOPs, self-service tools for customers, and an internal knowledge base for employees.
It’s also SEO-friendly and easily integrates with team collaboration tools like Slack. You can expect a user-friendly WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, detailed analytics and user feedback, and role-based permissions and SSO.
How Document360 Compares to ServiceNow
Document360 is a robust and scalable knowledge base solution for internal users and customers designed to promote and enable self-service. It lets you expand your content as your business expands while offering a fully automated version control module to avoid putting additional work on your staff. It is, however, somewhat limited once the content it oversees has been created.
Document360 is especially useful for technical manuals and documentation.
ServiceNow has dedicated workflows to publish and retire articles from the knowledge base for customers, employees, and agencies while also providing distinct access controls for reading and contribution. It allows companies to identify and visualize knowledge gaps—and then assign the said knowledge gaps to users using ML models to enhance customer self-service.
Document360 is excellent for developing technical documentation, but ServiceNow can manage the lifecycle of an organization’s IT assets. Use it to create a central database to present, optimize, and manage your organization‘s entire IT resources.
Next on our list of the best ServiceNow alternatives is Zendesk.
A well-rounded customer service platform, Zendesk allows companies to provide exceptional customer experience thanks to its robust ticketing system, cross-channel support, email management, and other tools. Easily create self-service knowledge bases, including a complete help center and community forums, and provide AI-powered article suggestions.
Other Zendesk benefits include help desk automation, agent collaboration, real-time data, and custom views.
How Zendesk Compares to ServiceNow
When comparing Zendesk and ServiceNow, the first thing you notice is that ServiceNow‘s dashboard is more complicated. It has several menu options that make it less user-friendly to first-time users. Also, ServiceNow only works in the cloud, while Zendesk offers native apps for iOS and Android devices.
Zendesk helps users with AI-powered resource suggestions.
Signing up with ServiceNow will give you access to the Now Platform Apps (nearly 219) and Integration (nearly 326). You can use these integrations to manage and improve customer service. On the other hand, Zendesk’s integration capabilities depend on your subscription. Except for the Essential plan, all other plans provide you access to public apps and integration from the marketplace (Professional, Enterprise, and Elite subscriptions also come with private apps and integrations).
ServiceNow is largely oriented toward IT service management, business automation, and app development, whereas Zendesk is focused on multichannel ticket management and self-service. So which one is better will likely depend on your specific needs.
If you want your knowledge base software to be simple, you should definitely try HelpSite.
It’s purposely straightforward and doesn’t come with an overwhelming amount of unrelated features, helping businesses create clean FAQs and knowledge base articles. You can also control the accessibility of each piece by creating a publicly accessible support site, an internal knowledge base solely for employees, or a mix of both.
What’s more, you can fully customize your knowledge base and host it on your own domain name with HelpSite. Smart contact forms with auto-suggest help articles and mobile-friendly, customizable tools add to the software’s usability.
How HelpSite Compares to ServiceNow
HelpSite has responsive customer support and is easy to manage and user-friendly. While ServiceNow also has prompt customer service, it’s more complicated in terms of navigation and usability.
A simple, straightforward knowledge base anyone can use.
Interestingly, this aligns with both software tools’ target users.
HelpSite is aimed at users looking for simple knowledge base features, whereas ServiceNow targets big businesses that want advanced and innovative tools. For instance, if you’re a small startup and get overwhelmed seeing too many tools and app engines bundled together, HelpSite would make a better option. But if you want advanced tools like built-in analytics or machine learning functionality, ServiceNow would make the better choice.
This also reflects in the pricing, with ServiceNow having a steeper price compared to HelpSite.
With ProProfs, you can easily build a knowledge base in five minutes. You’ll be able to easily create diverse content assets, including wikis, user guides, manuals, and help centers.
Alongside the excellent speed, it also integrates with 100+ third-party CRMs, help desk solutions, and chat tools like Google Analytics, Salesforce, and Freshdesk. It’s packed with unique features and smart settings to support all aspects of knowledge management, right from content authoring to customizing and finally publishing it on internal or external knowledge bases.
ProProfs is also perfect for users of all technical skill levels. It doesn’t require prior HTML or coding knowledge, nor do you need to download any additional apps.
How ProProfs Compares to ServiceNow
ProProfs caters to the needs of both small-sized businesses as well as large enterprises, regardless of the industry. On the other hand, ServiceNow focuses on capturing knowledge for enterprises and offers them advanced features, such as analytics and dashboards, guided setup, and group ownership.
Whether a small or large organization, ProProfs has a plan for you.
In terms of functionalities, both software tools are similar. Expect a shared inbox, live chat, customer surveys, and real-time analytics.
But ServiceNow is more appropriate for IT teams and is based on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) guidelines to help businesses improve service orientation for tasks and processes and automate IT support operations. Contrarily, ProProfs is mostly preferred by B2B and SaaS companies as it lets them configure their knowledge bases however they want.
Tettra — Best Knowledge Base Software for Internal Use
Tettra makes a great ServiceNow alternative if you’re looking to build an internal knowledge base to promote your team’s efficiency.
You get a centralized location to document crucial policies, procedures, and documents. Having this type of internal resource for self-help also streamlines the onboarding of new team members. What’s more, you can easily manage user roles and permissions and restrict access to certain information to ensure the right people have access to the right info.
An intuitive interface and robust search functionality, along with team collaboration and sharing features, ensure your team easy access to the information they need.
How Tettra Compares to ServiceNow
Tettra helps create internal knowledge bases to facilitate knowledge transfer and collaboration between team members, whereas ServiceNow is a comprehensive KMS suite designed for both internal and customer-facing apps.
Tettra has an intuitive design.
While both solutions don’t offer support for forums/discussion boards, they still have enough features that make them a leading KMS solution. However, ServiceNow is definitely way more advanced and offers several features like AI learning, IT asset management, HR service delivery, and ITSM function.
This also makes ServiceNow more expensive than Tettra.
On the whole, if you want access to several advanced features, ServiceNow would make a better fit. But if you want an affordable and straightforward tool with an adequate feature set to support your staff, Tettra is a worthy option.
TeamViewer is a popular software for providing remote support or gaining remote access to a computer. It provides the most efficient remote support services. Though TeamViewer did make our list of the top remote support software, it is not the only or the best option for your business.
The Quick Sprout research team researched various remote support software for hundreds of hours. After careful analysis of data and developing a criteria system, the team shortlisted a few of the best remote support software services.
ZohoAssist provides unmatched capabilities to monitor and manage a device without anybody on the other end.
ZohoAssist has various diagnostic tools that keep you updated about the status of hardware, printers, software, and task management on the devices, which can be helpful when performing native system diagnostic operations. It also allows you to form groups and sort different computers according to different criteria. You can even shut down, log off, or hibernate your devices remotely.
Moreover, you can control permission for specific teams or technicians to keep the operations of your system organized and avoid unnecessary confusion. Security features like these make ZohoAssist an unmatched remote support software service that is also easily affordable for many users.
How ZohoAssist Compares to TeamViewer
ZohoAssist and TeamViewer both have an easy-to-use interface. However, ZohoAssist provides some additional unique features that make it a better remote support software. While TeamViewer offers more integration options, ZohoAssist provides better unattended access.
Both of these remote support software tools provide excellent customer support service.
When it comes to pricing, ZohoAssist offers more affordable pricing options than TeamViewer. ZohoAssist offers three remote support plans, namely Standard at $10 per month, Professional at $15 per month, and Enterprise at $24 per month. Additionally, separate unattended access plans are also available. You can choose the subscription plan most suitable for your needs.
ZohoAssist is an excellent online workplace for teams working from different locations.
BeyondTrust is another secure remote support software that enables selective access for specific devices. It provides highly secure access to systems like Mac, iOS, Linux, Android, and Windows. Moreover, it has various tools that help you provide remote support either unattended or guide a customer to fix any technical issues on the other end.
Real-time reporting tools of BeyondTrust enable you to monitor key parameters of IT support and security issues. Easy integration with password tools for permission management and team management can help analyze every log or account of the remote support cycle. These features can be really useful in the event of auditing or other compliance issues.
The several security features offered by BeyondTrust make it an optimal choice for remote support, especially for technical support teams dealing with high-profile or sensitive data.
How BeyondTrust Compares to TeamViewer
BeyondTrust is overall easier to use than TeamViewer.While TeamViewer is ideal for small businesses, BeyondTrust is better suited for bigger enterprises. TeamViewer provides slightly better security than BeyondTrust.
BeyondTrust is mostly used in the IT industry, education, and healthcare sector whereas TeamViewer is used mostly by businesses in the IT sector. BeyondTrust has no set Subscription plans. You can request a price quote on its website.
BeyondTrust helps manage secure remote access for service desks and vendors.
AnyDesk – Best for Fast, User-friendly Remote Desktop Support
AnyDesk is an ideal remote support software for app developers and others in the software business. It is an efficient remote support system that maintains quality, is high-speed, and has a user-friendly interface or management screen.
AnyDesk is the go-to remote support software for IT professionals onsite or anywhere in the world wanting to connect to a device quickly. Therefore, AnyDesk can help provide excellent customer support from a single operating location.
AnyDesk allows you to set a secure password and access your computer on the go from anywhere in the world. Moreover, its banking standard TLS 1.2 is equipped to ensure that your computer stays protected from unauthorized access. Another method used by AnyDesk for ensuring a secure connection is the use of RSA 2048 asymmetric key exchange encryption.
Additional features offered by AnyDesk include:
Unlimited endpoints
File transfer
File transfer
On-screen whiteboard
Auto-discovery
At only 3 MB, AnyDesk is a light and convenient software option. Moreover, it is compatible with iOS, BSD, Mac OS, Linux, and Android.
How AnyDesk Compares to TeamViewer
AnyDesk offers faster navigation, remote desktop control, an interactive dashboard, and more. On the other hand, TeamViewer offers better security features and communication modules in comparison.
Both support software work well in several operating systems. All types of organizations — small and large can use AnyDesk or Teamviewer. However, TeamViewer is better suited to smaller businesses.
AnyDesk offers three subscription plans: Essentials at $9.90 per month, Performance at $19.90 per month, and Enterprise at $29.90 per month.
AnyDesk allows you to complete your work at blazing fast speed from anywhere in the world.
Pulseway is an ideal remote support software for personal use. It allows you to monitor from two to 19 systems at once. Moreover, it also allows you to control your devices and quit processes, run windows, or hibernate your device from anywhere in the world.
Additionally, you can schedule recurring tasks to occur automatically. Automation helps save time and many IT-related tasks may run in the background without active supervision. Pulseway also offers remote plans specifically for businesses and IT teams.
Additional features offered by Pulseway include:
Application programming interface
Activity tracking
Accounting integration
Notifications
Audit trail
How Pulseway Compares to TeamViewer
Pulseway is a super easy-to-use support software ideal for beginners. It allows easy integration with slack, zendesk, and other platforms. Pulseway provides 24/7 customer support, which is a feature not offered by TeamViewer. Overall, Pulseway offers plenty of more features than TeamViewer.
In terms of pricing, Pulseway’s subscription plan starts at $32 per month. However, the price increases based on the number of endpoints or devices you connect to.
Pulseway is a modern management and monitoring tool perfect for personal use.
Mikogo doesn’t require any download or installation before use. It provides excellent features like chat, recording tools, interactive whiteboard functionality, playback tools, and more. All these tools are perfect for providing remote support.
It allows teams of 25 users to connect to a single computer at the same time. Moreover, it allows you to quickly switch admin roles. It makes virtual meetings super easy and allows teleconferencing in several countries. It also allows the safe transfer of data up to 200 MB.
How Mikogo Compares to TeamViewer
Mikogo offers several unique features like API, collaboration tools, video support, and other useful tools. Team viewer also offers various unique tools comparable to Mikogo. In terms of customer support, TeamViewer offers better customer support services than Mikogo.
In terms of pricing, Mikogo allows you to join for free. However, you have to eventually pay a small fee of $15 per month to keep using it.
Mikogo allows you to make secure video calls and access a device from anywhere at any time.
Join.Me is another excellent alternative to TeamViewer. It also allows users to share screens, record sessions, use an interactive whiteboard, and conduct online meetings. It effortlessly integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook to help in scheduling.
Ten users can use the basic voice-over IP for free. Paid versions provide more administrative features to individual users and enterprises. It allows users to hold meetings with up to 250 participants.
How Join.Me Compares to TeamViewer
Join.me offers powerful remote support tools like web conferencing. It provides good customer support services just like TeamViewer. Moreover, Join.Me ensures that the quality of screen share remains good, providing an unmatched experience to many of its users.
In terms of pricing, Join.Me offers different subscription plans. All of the plans are affordable and provide good value for money. The Professional plan costs $12 per month, the Business plan costs $16 per month, and the cost of the Enterprise plan can be variable. You can request the quote for the enterprise plan through Join.Me’s website.
Join.Me is perfect for virtual meetings and remote support.
VNC Connect – Best for High-Security Organizations
VNC Connect is better suited to small businesses. It offers the best security features compared to any other remote support software. It employs two-factor authentication and 128-bit AES encryption to ensure maximum security. It provides high-speed cloud access, which ensures a smooth connection.
Even though VNC Connect provides top-notch security features, it lacks web conferencing features. You can use a free trial to explore its features and conclude if it’s suitable for the needs of your business. You can also invest in a paid version to control unlimited devices.
How VNC Connect Compares to TeamViewer
VNC Connect offers password protection to stop unauthorized users from accessing your computer. TeamViewer provides unattended access whereas VNC Connect doesn’t offer this feature. VNC Connect is easier to set up than TeamViewer. Therefore, VNC Connect can be easily used by new users with limited computer-related skills. An additional benefit of VNC Connect is that it offers a consistent user interface in different operating systems like Mac or Windows.
In terms of pricing, VNC Connect offers two plans: a device access plan that costs $3.39 per month and an instant support plan that costs $16.99 per month. Both plans provide unlimited users, full session encryption, and other features.
VNC Connect ensures that you access and work from anywhere through a secure connection.
Dameware Remote Support works with an unlimited number of users. It functions in different operating systems like Linux, macOS X, or Windows. It helps make secure remote connections. Moreover, built-in admin tools help remote management to actively deliver remote support from iOS and Android devices from anywhere in the world.
A unique feature of Dameware Remote Support is that it uses system tools to troubleshoot issues on a device instead of launching a full remote-control session. Additionally, it allows help desk integration.
How Dameware Remote Support Compares to TeamViewer
Dameware Remote Support is easier to install and operate than TeamViewer. Both TeamViewer and Dameware remote support provide screen sharing and screen recording features. They also allow you to take important screenshots.
Dameware has four authentication methods and offers a more secure connection than TeamViewer. One limitation of Dameware Remote Support is that it can only be installed on a Windows system. However, Dameware Remote Support offers several unique features that are not found in TeamViewer. Some of them include:
Centralized server
System management tools
Integration of active directory
Intel AMT KVM connection
In terms of pricing and subscription plans, Dameware Remote Support is slightly pricier than TeamViewer. You can check out the price range for different packages on its website. No matter which licensing plan you choose, you get unlimited end users.
Dameware Remote Support is an excellent remote support tool for IT technicians.
Unfortunately, Agility in business became one of the most hackneyed topics in IT. The main message was "Agility is Cool," and makes business flexible, reducing time to market. It's true. Why then do I raise this subject once again? Well, to show practical aspects and explain why continuous integration plays such an important role.
Business Agility Meaning
An Agile business is a business that is capable of reacting to a new environment and making changes quickly.
A high-performing network is integral for the maintenance of a functioning IT infrastructure in any modern company. It helps facilitate effective business communications and promotes synergy between systems. Therefore, it’s no exaggeration to say that a poorly functioning network can severely disrupt business operations or even drive a company to a standstill.
Network problems are a constant issue in most companies and network managers often find themselves trying to untangle increasingly complex problems. Simply put, the business runs on the network, and if the network is compromised, so is the business. Fortunately, there is a pretty simple solution for all of this—investing in a network performance solution.
The internet runs on data. Every day, humans create at least 2.5 quintillion bytes of digital data and share a significant portion of that with the world via the internet.
Whether you’re FaceTiming a loved one, watching cat videos on YouTube, or simply checking your emails, it all relies on the transmission of data.
“We sometimes underestimate the influence of little things.”
— Charles Chesnutt
It lives in the deepest and darkest corners of enterprise software... Mostly in the background... Never seen by the majority of end users... What is it?
It’s the administration and management layer of any software platform.
In fact, administration experience is often assumed or glossed over in software, because 99% users never engage with it directly. Yet this is one critical area that, when used effectively, can tie closely to a company’s business strategy, and affects the bottom line.
What Is Platform Administration?
Let’s align on the definition first. When people think about administration experience, most often it’s equated with either a modern dashboard panel with various system metrics or tedious utility pages with miscellaneous settings and configurations. However, the administration experience is far more comprehensive.
Administration experience is an end-to-end ecosystem that covers a wide range of administrative responsibilities — from active to passive. This includes installation/provisioning, configuration, user onboarding, scaling up/down, troubleshooting, security governance, and much more. It’s the full lifecycle of management and maintenance of the software platform and ensures the system works in sync with the company’s existing IT infrastructure.
Unfortunately, given that these functions mostly serve a very narrow set of personas (administrators), it’s not surprising to see that the user experience in the administration domain has lagged behind or been ignored in many software products on the market today, compared to end user product functions.
Why Should Customers Care?
From the definition above, we have already highlighted why administration experience is important. It’s understandable that we all want to just turn the faucet on and have the water running without worrying about the plumbing. However, when the plumbing doesn’t work, no one cares how nice the toilet looks.
There are many consequences a failing software administration can cause. Here is one example that’s not far away in this covid pandemic. The CDC ordered a $44 million vaccine administration system that was meant to manage the vaccine rollout. Instead, it has been plagued by problems and badly hurt the immunization progress.
Administration is the first step before any value of a software can be fulfilled. Too often, we see companies get stuck at the installation phase of a complex system for months, severely delaying the realization of Return on Investment (ROI).
With increasing concern for data security, access control in the software administration plays a vital role. It affects the efficacy of data isolation, and how access and permissions are precisely granted. Most importantly, with the increasing demands on system admins today, well-designed administrative capabilities can help them perform their day to day work more efficiently. How administration is handled can either be a booster or a bottleneck to the overall productivity of an organization.
Why Should Software Companies Care?
Besides the obvious reason that customers rely on a smooth administration experience to gain value for their software purchase, essential administration features also affect a software vendor’s bottom line. First, if the customers can’t start using the product within a timeframe due to deployment challenges, the initial purchase order and contract may not be fulfilled. Second, talk to any software support team and it may surprise you how many opened tickets from customers are related to administrative issues; such as installation, user management or setup and configuration.
Calculate the average time-to-resolve for these tickets, multiplied by the number of tickets and the hourly rate of the support staff, and you are likely to get an appallingly large number after your dollar sign. These kinds of calculations serve to hammer home how much a poorly implemented administration feature in the software may cost the business; not to mention the diminishing trust from the clients and declining Net Promoter Score (NPS) as an effect.
Conversely, strong administration and management capabilities perpetuate the success of a software platform business model, build loyalty among its users, and help the software company outperform its competition.
Let’s imagine a software platform that comes with a well-designed centralized administration. An admin can onboard users and give them access to different services efficiently without repeating the same process in siloed locations. This also allows for better governance without sacrificing collaboration.
With more users gaining access to the services quickly, more content is created and more services are deployed. When the platform’s value increases, it motivates more users and teams to join. As the network continues to grow, customers are more inclined to bring other existing tools into that same platform. With a well-guided integration experience in administration, the system can help customers achieve such goals with ease.
The more services and tools that the customers bring in, the stickier the software platform becomes to their organizations. In this example, administration experience leads to a self-reinforcing network effect that helps the business grow organically.
Why Does Administration Matter To Software As A Service (SaaS)?
With the number of SaaS products increasing rapidly in recent years, one might argue that administration is not so important in SaaS since the infrastructure and software maintenance are managed and abstracted from the users. It’s true that more companies are taking advantage of SaaS solutions. In fact, Gartner expects the global end-user spending on SaaS will exceed $170 Billion next year. However, even though the installation process is abstracted from SaaS applications, there are many other administrative areas that require a great amount of attention.
Organizations still need visibility into SaaS usage in order to optimize their license entitlements and consumption. How are services and apps being used? How many of these services are paid based on consumption? or contractual subscription based on tiered usage? Who are the users of these services? Finally, how much are these services costing your organization? As a key aspect of administration, licensing and usage management related features help companies with better cost analysis and control.
Identity and access management is always relevant regardless of software or SaaS. A streamlined user management experience with out-of-box roles can greatly reduce onboarding time; allowing end users to get to the core value of the application more efficiently.
Security posture still needs to be established and enforced consistently. While security policies might not be directly defined by administrators, they need to work with the company’s CISO to ensure the SaaS applications are in compliance with the security requirements. A SaaS application that comes with transparent information on cloud native security and centralized controls of identity, access and data governance will gain a competitive edge.
According to a recent Gartner report, many organizations, especially midsize enterprises, have migrated the majority of core applications to SaaS. With this trend, it’s also not a far reaching prospect to see organizations look at automating repetitive administration tasks to increase efficiency. SaaS or not, experiences that help admins reduce work redundancy and boost productivity will certainly be favored by the market.
As organizations continue to enlarge their SaaS footprint in their business and IT solutions, it is also worth evaluating the rising needs for SaaS management and visibility of the business’s entire software stack. With a good administration and management system in place, a company can track usage, spending and compliance with ease, and respond quickly when changes arise.
To continue our plumbing metaphor: when a tenant rents an apartment building, it’s expected that the water is running with regular pipe maintenance. No one wants to hear the building owner blame the plumbing company for any water problems.
Areas To Consider When Designing The Administration Experience
We’ve seen from many perspectives why the administration experience is critical to a company’s business strategy and clients’ success. Administration, by itself, also poses complex design challenges for anyone who’s passionate about user experience.
Here are a few things for designers and developers to consider when striving to bring a top-tier administration experience to life:
Design For Efficiency
Administration is a demanding, fast-paced, and high-pressure environment. Beyond regular maintenance and system updating, admins are typically the first-line responders for emergency situations that call for IT help. Because administrators are busy people with wildly varying days, our research reveals that they don’t want to spend the bulk of their day gazing at a software interface.
As one admin pointed out,
“Unless there’s a problem, I won’t poke around in the dashboard.”
Another confirmed,
“I want to set up alerts so I don’t have to proactively monitor metrics to make sure that I’m not going over something.”
As designers, our challenge is to create a product that does not encumber these administrators. Instead of keeping them locked into the interface with fleshy dials and graphs, the experience needs to be well-guided, streamlined, and intelligent; so maximum aid is provided to help administrations get in and out fast.
For example, in managing the system usage, design a system that will not only alert the admin when it’s exceeding the licensed amount, but also point out which service exactly is eating the usage, and give guidance on what to do next. If a higher tier license needs to be purchased, perhaps it can take the admin to the action page. Even better is if a system can give future predictions and recommendations for a purchase option based on the current metrics.
Design For Scalability
Administration requires design considerations on a large scale, especially for enterprise level solutions. Think about Identity and Access (IAM). It might be easy to design user management for one service.
But, what if there are dozens or hundreds of services that share the same user directory? What if multiple departments are sharing the same software platform deployment with separate data? What if collaborations among users from different accounts are needed?
The complexity of the user access problems can snowball even faster when balancing the experience with the technical feasibility. Suddenly, the plan for a solution that accommodates enterprise-scale management is no longer simple and straightforward. This requires designers and their technology partners to ask the right question from the starting point. We must understand not just the immediate needs, but also the long term vision in order to conceive a solution that can accommodate an increasing scale.
Leverage Emerging Technology
The manual process of many administrative capabilities gives designers a great opportunity to champion emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and Robotic Processing Automation (RPA), in their design solutions to increase the productivity of administrative work.
Next time, when you design for an administrative task, such as configuring service backup and restore, after mapping out the general task flow, identify what are the repetitive steps in the set-up process, and whether they can be automated. Imagine how efficient it would be if an admin only needed to set up backup cadence and storage location for one single service and automate the same settings for all the other services.
Also, consider the predictive and suggestive nature of many machine-learning algorithms. Can one be integrated in the system to help admin troubleshoot?
To illustrate the idea, think about when a database is reported frozen due to the archive log being full. What if the system could not only point out the problem, but also give suggestions and automated fixes; such as adding one more archive log destination to resolve the issue. Further, if the same problem occurs many times, can the system surface such insights and give recommendations on how to fix the root cause? Could it suggest that the administrator schedule a cron job to delete logs before it reaches full capacity?
With these capabilities, an administrator’s approach towards troubleshooting may no longer need to be reactive, but could also proactively optimize the system before incidents even happen.
For those who believe in the power of design to bridge the gap between technology and the needs of the users, administration provides a perfect venue to make an impactful difference.
Don’t Underestimate
“When you believe in what you’re doing and use your imagination and initiative, you can make a difference.”
— Samuel Dash
Next time when someone makes a flippant decision on administration design, ask them to think again. The complex domains that software administrators tackle today create vast opportunities for us to build many delightful interactions that can not only exceed customer expectations, but also bring successful product outcomes.
The public sector includes many different areas. Some groups leverage cutting-edge technology, like military leverage. Others like the public administration are years or even decades behind. This blog series explores how the public sector leverages data in motion powered by Apache Kafka to add value for innovative new applications and modernize legacy IT infrastructures. This is part 4: Use cases and architectures for energy, utilities, and smart grid infrastructure.
Blog series: Apache Kafka in the Public Sector and Government
This blog series explores why many governments and public infrastructure sectors leverage event streaming for various use cases. Learn about real-world deployments and different architectures for Kafka in the public sector:
The public sector includes many different areas. Some groups leverage cutting-edge technology, like military leverage. Others like the public administration are years or even decades behind. This blog series explores how the public sector leverages data in motion powered by Apache Kafka to add value for innovative new applications and modernizing legacy IT infrastructures.
This post is part 3: Use cases and architectures for Government andCitizen Services.
The public sector includes many different areas. Some groups leverage cutting-edge technology, like military leverage. Others like the public administration are years or even decades behind. This blog series explores how the public sector leverages data in motion powered by Apache Kafka to add value for innovative new applications and modernize legacy IT infrastructures. Life is a stream of events. Therefore, examples include a broad spectrum of use cases across smart cities, citizen services, energy and utilities, and national security deployed across the edge, hybrid, and multi-cloud scenarios.
Blog Series: Apache Kafka in the Public Sector and Government
This blog series explores why many governments and public infrastructure sectors leverage event streaming for various use cases. Learn about real-world deployments and different architectures for Kafka in the public sector:
Business management software empowers you to streamline your internal processes into workflows that garner results. The trick is finding software that can work with your business to help eliminate errors, gather data, and equip you with useful automations.
Today, we’re looking at the top business management platforms you can use to improve your business across the board. Let’s dive in.
The Top 5 Best Business Management Software
Zoho One – Best for big businesses that need high customization
If you’re managing large teams with enterprise-level needs, Zoho One offers comprehensive bespoke solutions for businesses that need a wide array of tools that are highly customizable.
Let’s face it, big teams can have a harder time staying nimble as they cater to customer’s needs and manage a growing audience. Zoho One offers everything from sales and marketing solutions, productivity and collaboration tools, HR and customer experience tools, finance and accounting, and even a low-code developer platform all at a granular level of customization.
It lets you automate daily tasks, set SOPs, streamline data management, and create workflows exactly how you need them. Not only that, Zoho One leads you through the onboarding process by taking care of migration needs, equipping you with in-depth product knowledge, and helping you set your unique technical needs.
For enterprise-level needs, security and privacy are of utmost importance. With Zoho One, you can be sure you’re GDPR compliant as you execute operations globally. Data gathered through Zoho isn’t sold to third parties, as they manage data security issues with great care.
Here’s a look at Zoho One’s two pricing plans:
All Employee – $37 per user per month
Flexible User – $90 per user per month
In the All Employee plan, you must purchase licenses for all of your employees and with Flexible User, you can purchase a license for any number of users. Both prices above are billed annually.
To learn more about Zoho One’s enterprise-level plans that include customization, you’ll have to get in contact with its sales team.
Salesforce stands out as the all-in-one solution option for businesses that need streamlined management across every department. Its Customer 360 option, for instance, is designed to unite all your teams around one thing: your customer.
Salesforce does this by uniting sales, marketing, IT, service, commerce, and analytics into a customized solution that caters to your specific needs. Salesforce’s Einstein AI feature makes sure you can automate repetitive tasks and time-consuming tasks, even if you manage teams that are working far apart from each other.
What’s more, Salesforce also offers free training through its Reskilling hub, where your employees, old and new alike, can sharpen their skills while they learn the ins and outs of every tool Salesforce’s software has to offer.
Salesforce’s Customer 360 approach also makes sure all your team members have access to crucial data to be able to make smarter and quicker decisions.
It’s not an exaggeration to say Salesforce is a truly feature-rich business management tool. So if you want to get familiar with its prices, it’s best if you navigate to its extensive pricing page where it breaks down plans by either need, business size, or industry.
For instance, its small business management software plans break down as follows:
Essentials – $25 per user per month
Sales Professional – $75 per user per month
Service Professional – $75 per user per month
Pardot Growth – $1,250 per user per month
If you don’t yet want to commit, Salesforce also lets you try any plan for free for 30 days once you answer a few questions about your business.
Sometimes, your business needs software that simplifies work and projects without bringing too much complexity. That’s where a tool like Wrike can be an optimal solution.
Wrike offers dashboards, processes, and automation tools for seemingly every business team. It can take care of anything from:
Marketing
Project management
Professional services
Business operations
Product Management
IT teams
Digital marketing teams
Wrike enables you to break down silos and connect all your teams through an easy-to-configure platform and secure cloud collaboration. Moreover, its customizable status reports help you keep everyone in the loop. With its out-of-the-box templates you can plan objectives and KPIs with actionable items that teams can organize on kanban boards with plenty of integrations.
One of Wrike’s standout features is its library of Wrike courses. They educate you on all things Wrike, including modules on building teams, managing processes, and increasing productivity all through the Wrike platform. In fact, Wrike won an award for the best customer training program in 2020. This all sounds great, but how do its prices break down?
Free
Professional – $9.80 per user per month
Business – $24.80 per user per month
Enterprise – Contact them for more information
For small businesses, Wrike can be a free tool worth using to streamline and scale processes. From there, its most popular Business tier at $24.80 per user per month offers more robust work management tools with plenty of reporting features and access to additional customization options.
If you haven’t made up your mind yet but think Wrike might be a tool you’re interested in, you can start a 14-day free trial for any plan you’d like to get a real feel for how the software operates.
Business management software isn’t just for big businesses with large teams. Solopreneurs and freelancers need processes and automations to streamline their operations too. QuickBooks can be a solid option for freelancers and one-man businesses that need to get a handle on their accounting and time tracking needs.
With QuickBooks, you’ll have an easier time getting paid and sending invoices, keeping track of income and expenses for tax purposes, and you’re able to gain clarity on how many hours you’re actually working.
QuickBooks lets you ditch limiting spreadsheets and replace them with powerful cash flow management, as well as reporting features that’ll help you keep cash flowing. Need payroll? You can easily add that to your plan.
Its time tracking feature, a crucial part of keeping a well-oiled freelance workflow, takes note of hours worked for an easier time calculating payroll and billable hours. Thankfully, QuickBooks isn’t only built for efficiency, it’s also an affordable solution.
Simple Start – $12.50 a month
Essentials – $20 a month
Plus – $35 a month
Advanced – $75 a month
For only $12.50 a month the Simple Start plan gives you access to income and expense tracking, invoicing, general reports, cash flow, and contract management. However, for more advanced features its most popular Plus plan can run comprehensive reports, capture and organize receipts, manage and pay bills, and even includes access for up to five users.
Managing a service-based business? Scoro has the tools you need to quicken your business processes through automation and data management. With Scoro’s real-time Gantt charts, your team can track progress in real time and lets you set tasks, dependencies, and events.
Scoro lets you create customer pipelines, automate billing and recurring invoices, and even automates the process of sending late invoice reminders. As far as data goes, it lets you automatically compile reports, and track KPIs through its data-rich dashboard. All of these tools and more help you manage the entire project life cycle on an intuitive and easy-to-use dashboard.
Built-in calendars, task lists, and time trackers make sure you’re keeping a finger on the pulse of all your service projects for higher rates of success. One of the best parts? Scoro can be pretty affordable for businesses that want a service management tool that can scale with them as they grow.
Essential – $26 per user per month with a minimum of five users
Work Hub – $37 per user per month
Sales Hub – $37 per user per month
Ultimate – Contact the sales team for pricing
Scoro offers a demo and a free trial if you’d like to try it out first.
How to Find The Best Business Management Software For You
Finding a fitting business management system isn’t a situation where you can just eye some features to find out if any given tool will work for you.
While it’s pretty straightforward that you’ll want your budget constraints, the size of your team, and your overall business goals to dictate which tool to onboard, there are additional criteria you can think through to maximize the chances of finding the right one.
Customer Management
Before committing to any tool, it’s worth determining what customer management tools your business will make use of.
Tools that enable you to do things like create customer profiles, or to anticipate the needs of a customer through tracked data might not be necessary for young startups or freelancers. It doesn’t make sense to invest in a more robust software if your business won’t truly need it— since more complex business management software almost always means you’ll have to pay more each month.
On the other hand, if your business has hundreds of employees and/or thousands of customers, a heavier customer management software package might be worth investing in.
Training and Onboarding
The more complex your business management tool of choice, the more of a learning curve your team will have to deal with. Fortunately, the best business management software providers know this and make it easier for businesses to use their software by designing an onboarding process— or at the very least providing a library of knowledge.
This way, any downtime is minimal during the onboarding process, your team will feel supported as they’re introduced to a new tool, and the transition to new software can be as smooth as possible. Some software providers come with customer support forums, an extensive knowledge library, and even on-demand training webinars and videos.
Knowing there’s a library of material they can refer to can save your team a lot of time and avoid miscommunication.
Summary
Without a doubt, the right business management software can transform the way you work. But first, you have to find one that works with your team’s needs and business goals. Here’s the complete list of software we went through as a quick refresher:
Zoho One – Best for big businesses that need high customization
Once you’ve carefully read through the guide and considered your options, you can take advantage of the free trials and demos each tool offers before making a full commitment.
