security

01/08/2021 By Jason Bean Leave a Comment

5 Smart Tips for Safe Online Shopping in 2021

Online shopping is fast becoming the new norm. Thanks to the freedom, convenience, and ease it offers, you're probably thinking of doing it yourself. However, one of the biggest concerns most online shoppers have is security. How secure are your financial details on shopping websites?

Here are a few tips that can help you stay safe in 2021.

1. Start with trusted sites

There are millions of online retail sites today. Most of them are legitimate, but some contain links to spam and malicious content. You, therefore, need to be extra careful when searching for a shopping website.

First, start with the popular and well-known sites like Amazon.com or Ebay.com. You're less likely to be scammed on these sites since you've probably used them before. You can also try your favorite retail stores if they're online, but ensure you know the right web addresses.

Be on the lookout for the popular domain misspelling scams, for instance, a hacker may use Amazon.net instead of Amazon.com. These tricks have been successful for years because they're not conspicuous at first glance.

2. Look for HTTPS URL and a padlock icon

Before sharing your credit or debit card information on an online shopping site, here are the two rules you should follow: Ensure the site’s URL starts with HTTPS, and confirm that a locked padlock icon appears slightly left of the URL bar.

The (S) in HTTPS stands for secure and shows that the shopping website has integrated a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. The locked padlock (sometimes green) indicates that your connection to the website is secure.

Avoid sharing any information on sites with just HTTP and without the padlock.

3. Don’t shop over public wi-fi

We’ve heard stories about public wi-fi hotspots and cybercriminals countless times. By now, you should know that while shopping using public Wi-Fi seems convenient, it leaves your data in the hands of hackers.

Personal information such as your credit card details, bank details, phone number, and your emails are but a few of the data a hacker can manipulate from the vulnerabilities of unsecure Wi-Fi.

So, instead of exposing yourself to that much risk, always use your data to complete your online shopping transactions. And if you really have to use Wi-Fi, a simple VPN download will go a long way to improving your security.

But still, if you can avoid insecure public Wi-Fi, do yourself a favor and do it.

4. Keep your software up-to-date

Updating your software is the #1 online security measure every security expert recommends. Whether you're shopping on your phone, laptop, or tablet, ensure that the operating system is up-to-date with the latest updates.

Updating your software fixes any vulnerabilities that cybercriminals may exploit to send malware into your system.

5. Avoid ‘too good to be true’ offers

In any e-commerce store, if any product pricing appears to be too good to be true, it probably is. Don't trust any seller offering such an offer. This is usually a trap by some sellers to collect your credit card information among other data, so they can sell it. In other cases, the product might be of very poor quality.

Conclusion

When shopping online, getting scammed isn’t just a far-fetched idea. It happens to millions of people every day. You should therefore be careful with how you go about the process if you want to avoid it. With the tips above, we’re confident that you’ll always be one step ahead of the criminals.

Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash

01/09/2019 By Jason Bean Leave a Comment

Your End Of Year ERP Checklist

Running ERP software in your business will make it much more efficient, and you will be able to get a lot more done this way. Many of the systems and processes that used to take a lot of time, or that you had to delegate either to a staff member or to a third party (which could be expensive) can now be done automatically by whichever ERP you are running.

It doesn’t mean, however, that you can just ‘set and forget’ at this time of year. As the year draws to a close, you should take the opportunity before heading off on your holiday break, to make sure that your ERP is working exactly as you want it to. Follow our handy checklist, and you can go home for the holidays without worrying about it at all.

Back It Up

Although everything you do on an ERP program should automatically be stored in the cloud, it is worth checking this to ensure that it actually is happening. If not, and something was to happy to your office and computers, would you be able to recover those files? It would be unlikely unless there were another backup somewhere.

Backing up your work is one of the most critical elements to being prepared and in control and Dobson.net offers some great reasons why. You do it in the hopes that you never have to use that backup, but it is there if you do need it and that offers you complete peace of mind. Plus, it is no longer such a time-consuming task. You can even leave it running in the background while you use the computer for other things such as online Christmas shopping or Unibet games.

It’s not just a matter of hitting the button and thinking it’s all done though; you should check that the file is readable and complete once the backup is finished. Then you can step away knowing that the backup is ready.

Check The Automation

The point of an ERP is to automate many processes. This could include, amongst other things:

Contract renewals
Customers data updates
Newsletters (check out TriDigital Marketing for why a newsletter will benefit your business)
Price changes across your business

However, when was the last time you checked that your automation was doing what you want it to do? Now is the perfect time to do just that. You can ensure that newsletters are being posted with the right information and that your lists are up to date. You can also check the frequency of any updates and backups. It won’t take more than a few minutes to check that everything is working in the way you want it to, but that check can save a lot of problems further down the line.

Make Hard Copies

Although this is not something that you will normally find advocated on many cloud pages, making a hard copy of the most important contracts, invoices, and other documents is a good idea. Print them out and keep them in a secure, fireproof safe, ideally away from the office if you can. It could include payroll information and financial records that will be needed for tax purposes. It is better to be safe than sorry, and having one extra copy of the most important documents for your business certainly can’t hurt. If the absolute worst were to happen, you could still continue trading.

08/10/2018 By Jason Bean Leave a Comment

The Absolute Fundamentals of Designing Employee ID Cards

For every organization, their employees are highly valuable assets. Employee satisfaction is almost as important as customer satisfaction. Employee ID cards validate your employee’s role in your organization. By giving your employee ID cards that they can flaunt, you let your organization’s name become even more visible around town and other business establishments, thus increasing your marketing footprint.

Here are a few factors that can set your employee ID card apart.

Stick to a Sensible Design

Going for an outlandish design for your employee ID card is not necessary to set it apart. You can look for office ID badges online and find multiple templates. Things to decide about the design of the card are:

Orientation: Depending on how you want your employee to carry the ID you can decide on orientation.
Single or Double Side: smaller businesses opt for single-sided cards. To highlight your organization and keep your employee details on the same card, double-sided cards work the best.
Color Choices: Keep the IDs in tune with your company’s color scheme if you have any. Backgrounds of flashy colors make the cards look tacky as well as making them hard to read.
Fonts: Going crazy with fonts for an ID card is a bad idea since it makes them hard to read. Stick to clear and bold fonts.
Encoded Data: for many organizations these are necessary for office space access. Do not add redundant barcodes if they are not necessary.

Let your Logo be Seen

Your employees' ID can be a good way of getting your organization's name out there. The logo of your company should be the first thing that comes to view on the ID card. To ensure this you need to make the size of your logo bigger than the other components of the ID. The colors you choose for your ID should make your logo stand out.

Along with the organization logo, you can opt to add some organization information. Add your company corporate address lines and contact information. Adding the area of work that your business handles is also an option.

Choose the Best Quality

No matter how well the design is of your office ID, it is bound to be tacky if the quality of the card is bad. You can find bulk printers that offer ID cards printed for cheap. Buying office ID badges online should be done from reputable sites which offer the best quality product. The durability of the card sets trendy ID cards apart from tacky ones.

Employee Identification and Details

The most eye-catching feature of an office ID card, after the company logo, should be the employee picture. Keep a nice prominent space on the front side of the ID for your employees’ picture. For double-sided IDs, keep space for your employee’s name, designation, year of validity of the ID card and employee number (if any) on the front side.

Personal information, like your employee’s business address, office contact details and emergency contact details, should always be on the flip side of the card.

Update: Canva, the popular tool for more easily creating custom graphics for your social media or online marketing efforts now has the ability to create ID cards for your company or organization with the same ease, quality and simplicity.