Business

Going to the salon is one way to relieve your stress. It should be one of your relaxing and enjoyable moments. However, it’s not always the same experience for everybody. Some end in disaster. They gain damage or injury, which can cause stress and embarrassment. If you sustained an injury after visiting a beauty salon, the hairdresser could be held liable. You may get in touch with beauty treatment solicitors who can help you succeed with your claim.

Here, we will help you understand and guide you with everything you need to know when you’re claiming for beauty salon treatment compensation.

Types of salon injuries that qualify for claims

• Lacerations. Hairdressers are well-trained to use scissors and all forms of hair-cutting tools. They should be experts in using scissors. However, due to some unavoidable circumstances, they may cause you cuts that may leave a scar. If this occurred out of the negligence of your hairdresser, you could qualify for injury compensation.
• Heat and chemical burns. When you visit a salon to get your hair treated, you may experience heat and chemical burns. Treatment solutions that contain harsh chemicals as well as irons may cause burns to your skin. Hence, if the hairdresser is proven negligent, you may also qualify for claims.
• Hair damage or hair loss. If your hairdresser applied the treatment solution to your hair in the wrong way, you could suffer hair damage, or worst, hair loss. When you face this situation, you can ask for compensation from your hairdresser.
• Tripping and slipping. Aside from treatments, suffering physical injury from a slippery surface inside the salon can also qualify for claims. Owners and employees are responsible for the cleanliness of their salon and the safety of their clients. Therefore, the salon will be held liable for any accident that may occur inside.

How much compensation can you get?

When thinking of how much compensation you can claim from the injury you sustained from a beauty salon, you will base the amount on the severity of the injury. For instance, if you suffered from lacerations, the wound may leave a scar that will cause you to lack self-confidence. The same goes through if you suffer from hair loss. Amount tends to be high in these cases. If the damage is less serious, the amount is more likely to be lower too.

What are beauty treatment solicitors?

Beauty treatment solicitors are the people you can ask for assistance if you wish to claim for salon injury compensation. They are lawyers who have vast knowledge and experience in handling beauty treatment claims cases.

If you are going to claim personal injury compensation from your hairdresser, make sure that you have enough proof to justify your claims. Gather pieces of evidence, look for witnesses, seek medical attention, and ask help from the right people. The more evidence and witnesses you get, the higher your chances of succeeding with your claim, and the higher your pay-out will be.

Encryption is the process of protecting data. And it is done by changing the data from a readable form to an unreadable format. Complex algorithms are used here or scrambling data in order to protect it, as it becomes unreadable and also can not be accessed.

In case the data falls into the hands of any unauthorized parties, without having the right encryption code to decrypt the data, it can not be read. And when it comes to translating those files into readable, only the members of the organization have access to the encryption keys or the encryption key manager.

Think of it like the way you protect your home from being accessed by any stranger with the help of a lock and key. Here, the lock is the encryption, which keeps unauthorized individuals from accessing your house or, in other forms, your data.

And the encryption keys are equivalent to your house key that is needed in order to lock and unlock the door of your house. Only the person who has the key can lock or unlock the door of your house, or in other forms, encrypt or decrypt the data.

If someone, whom you do not want to enter your house, gets the key, the person can break in and steal your personal belongings. In the same way, in case any cybercriminal gets your encryption keys, they can steal your valuable information.

The Benefits Of Encryption

Here are some benefits of encryption. Just like CRM software for businesses, encryption is also a crucial part due to the below-mentioned reasons.

Data Protection

The volume of data, which is created, managed, or stored by organizations is increasing worldwide and also being diversified. It is becoming more important to have a data protection plan in place. The number of cyber attacks and breaches is also rising more and more.

It also often results in severe consequences for all kinds of businesses. Damage to the brand reputation, revenue loss, operational disruptions, loss of trust from customers, and also legal ramifications are some of them.

Though there are a bunch of technologies for protecting your data from a breach, it is true that encryption is the most effective one.

Compliance

Compliance is the biggest factor, which is influencing organizations to implement encryption within their IT environment. There are also major regulations to exist across several particular sectors, only with the purpose of maintaining the security of sensitive and personal data of clients.

IoT, energy industry, biotechnology, financial services, and healthcare are some of the examples. If you fail to comply with all these regulations, it may result in a various number of penalties, like increased fees, penalties, and also retraction of rights in order to interact with clients only in the given industries.

For ensuring that sensitive data is not compromised, encryption offers a level of protection. It also confirms that all the necessary precautions are being taken for keeping the data safe.

Customer Trust

The study says that around 25% of Americans do not prefer to do business with data-breached companies. The impact a data breach has on customer trust, and loyalty is one of the most significant and biggest consequences.

Yahoo experienced the largest data breaches of all time between the years 2013 and 2014, which had impacted 3 billion user accounts. After they announced the breaches publicly, they were forced to minimize their sales price to Verizon by $350 million.

In addition to that, they also paid a settlement of $80 million in 2018, along with a $35 million fine later. Other search engines and email services with better security service providers surpassed them. Implementing encryption like data protection makes the customers trust and also ensures the safety of their data.

Conclusion

There are a lot more things to know about encryption. But as a beginner, these pieces of information will do great. From there, you will get the basic idea of encryption. You can continue your research to get a better and wider grip.

https://www.picpedia.org/chalkboard/t/technology.html

Many small businesses looking to invest in technology decide to turn to the rental market rather than purchasing tech devices and gadgets. As a start-up or small business, funds can be tight, and paying the high prices to purchase tech devices can be extremely difficult. By renting, businesses can benefit from greater flexibility as well as affordability.

Of course, there are various tech rental companies you can choose from, but it is important to find the right one for your business needs. The company you choose can have an impact on everything from pricing and affordability to choices and suitability. So, it is important to put plenty of thought into the rental company you go with to fulfill your tech needs. In this article, we will look at some of the key factors you should consider.

Your Main Considerations to Make the Right Choice

There are a few key things you need to consider in order to choose the right tech rental company for your business. Some of the main ones are:

Online Reputation

One of the things you need to look at is the online reputation of the provider, and this is something that you can do with ease and convenience by looking at reviews. By reading reviews from others who have already used the same provider, you can get a far better idea of what to expect in terms of service, efficiency, reliability, and overall experience. This will then make it easier for you to make your decision and find the right provider for your needs.

Choice of Technology

You also have to look at the choice of devices that are available from the provider so you can determine whether they can cater to your needs. There are probably various tech devices that you need for your small business in order to aid the day-to-day operation and smooth running of the company. By ensuring you choose a provider with a good selection of tech devices for rent, you can make sure all your tech needs are accommodated.

Competitive Pricing

Of course, you need to also take pricing into consideration, as you need to ensure the cost of rental fits in with your business budget. So, make sure you look at the rental cost of different tech devices that the provider offers so you can work out affordability. Remember, the costs can vary based on not only the type but also the make and model of the devices you choose.

Terms and Flexibility

Finally, take the time to consider the terms and flexibility of the rental contracts to ensure they are right for your and your business. For instance, are you tied into a contract for a specified period? Can you upgrade or downgrade as necessary depending on your business needs? Read through the terms carefully to help you make the right decision.

Benefit from Peace of Mind

By taking these tips on board, you can find the right provider with far greater ease. This then means you can benefit from greater peace of mind when it comes to your tech equipment rental.

 

If there is one thing America has a lot of, it is entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit feeds the American economy, which is no wonder many American corporations began as small, home-based businesses. However, 2020 was a devastating year for everyone. Several companies had to permanently close operations while others tried to work under pandemic restrictions.

Small businesses were hit hard by the pandemic. According to a report from Facebook, 2.1 million firms closed down permanently, and nearly one-third of small businesses are not operational anymore in the USA.

So, small business owners need to take any chance they get to save their companies. Fortunately, the government introduced several new tax incentives, breaks, and rules to sustain the economy. Following are some of the latest programs introduced by the government.

• Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act: The Paycheck Protection Program introduced by the CARES Act is a forgivable loan to small businesses. They can use this loan to fund payroll, pay their rent and utility bills. Furthermore, any money received through PPP is not considered taxable income.
• Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC): A business that had to fully or partially close because of a government-mandated shutdown can use ERTC to retrain staff members. They are also eligible for a tax credit of 50 percent of qualifying wages between March 13, 2020, to January 1, 2021.
• Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA): Businesses that provided sick leaves to employees suffering from Covid-19 can get 100 percent of the cost of sick leave pay and qualified healthcare plan expenses.

Here is the crux of the matter: several legislations reformed tax law in 2020 to sustain the pressure of Covid-19. However, according to Forbes, 93 percent of small-business owners overpay their taxes.

Most employees find it challenging to be assets to a company due to limited business knowledge. With Covid-19, educational institutions made higher education more accessible by offering online masters degrees.

Candidates who earned a master of business administration online have better odds of being hired and interviewed by business owners keen on surviving during the pandemic, and one of the ways is knowing how and where to save on taxes.

Following are eight ways businesses can save on taxes.

• Hire someone to help you out: Running a small business is a full-time job as entrepreneurs already have too much on their plate. So, adding government paperwork to a long to-do list can make things even more challenging. While a do-it-yourself tax system works for taxpayers with simple income tax returns, complex tax situations need an expert.

A competent professional can help you make better business decisions, and according to one survey, filers saved an additional $840 when they hired a professional. So, it is a good idea to have someone with an mban in your team when you file taxes.

• Keep an eye on the receipts: You should know how and where you spend your money to maximize your deductions. Therefore, organize your track receipts so you can make accurate log deductions.

Keep in mind that business travel charges, such as flights, hotels, and other transportation costs, are fully deductible. Save your receipts for these trips, and you are good to go.

• Vehicle costs and Home office costs: You might not have receipts for some expenses, such as vehicle costs and home office costs, but you can still get a tax deduction for these costs as a percentage of your overall expenses.

For home office expenses, you can either apply for $5 per square foot up to 300 feet or itemize the cost according to space. To calculate vehicle expenses, you must verify that you used the vehicle for business expenses.

1. Take advantage of Retirement plans: Setting up and finding retirement plans can save you money. However, it should be a qualified plan recognized by the IRS. They include IRAs, 401(k)s, or 403(b)s. Remember that these plans defer taxes until the beneficiary withdraws the funds. Small business owners under 50 can contribute up to $5,500 to an IRA plan. Those above 50 can put $6,500 in retirement savings.
2. Take advantage of tax credits: Tax credits are incentives the government gives to taxpayers for certain activities. They are better than tax deductions because they reduce taxable income.

Several new legislations offer tax credits to businesses that struggled in 2020. For example, business owners get credits for going green, providing health coverage to employees, and even qualified employee wages under the CARES Act 2020. The FFCRA also offers small business tax credits for giving paid sick leave to employees.

• Write-off purchases of business equipment: Fortunately, companies can also deduct costs of vehicles, machinery, and business equipment. Most of these write-offs apply within the first year of buying the equipment.

Section 179 deductions help you deduct the costs of assets when you use them. Businesses can also get extra benefits under the TCJA. Business owners can receive a hundred percent tax break for assets used in service between September 2017 to January 2023.

1. Deduct the costs of gifts: Small business owners can deduct $25 per person on the cost of awards for customers and vendors. However, any gifts containing a business logo or that companies distribute as a matter do not qualify. Business owners cannot deduct entertainment costs unless they are related to your business.
2. Use tax filing software: This tip is number one because tax filing software can help you prepare and file tax returns with minimal hassle. You do not have to go through records and recheck them for accuracy.

Furthermore, most tax filing programs have excellent customer support to help you out of a difficult situation. Some tax filing systems even help you determine which pricing plan works for you. TurboTax is an excellent tax filing software for first-time tax filers.

Conclusion:

Small business owners can save a lot of money by following some simple tips. However, the most important hack for tax filing is to begin as early as possible. Most business owners leave this vital task to the last day and miss deadlines. Tax planning is a year-round activity that can save you last-minute stress and hassle. So, do not ignore your tax filing to avoid getting penalties from the IRS.

 

Successful companies often pursue business expansion to attract more customers, enter new territories, and enhance their profitability. While some corporations pursue mergers and acquisitions, others migrate to foreign countries. But experts believe that one of the most practical methods of growing your business is building strategic partnerships with other companies.

You locate a business that complements yours to create affiliations for sharing your budget and accessing an untapped audience. These alliances help you to combine resources with another company to reach your business objectives while accelerating commercial progress. So, here are some factors to consider for a successful business partnership:

• Financial Management

Excellent companies pay keen interest in their financial management processes. It is one of the most critical factors that make a company stand out among its competitors. Risk management, financial stability, account profitability are some of the essential indicators of effective financial management. However, when choosing a business partner, it is always important to compare your target company’s evolution of income statement with other businesses operating in the same industry.

Another critical factor is the team’s skillset that ensures financial management of your and your partner’s company. Since both companies might need to collaborate for various financial meetings, it is good to check on the skills and expertise of your partner’s workforce. As financial management is the backbone of any company, business affiliations with skilled and educated professionals can take your business to new heights.

Many education institutions are now facilitating professionals by offering advanced education programs such as an online masters in accounting for non accounting majors to equip them with the necessary skills. These tech-savvy individuals can contribute to strategic decision-making in your company after collaboration.

• Business Values and Credibility

Alliances seldom work when the two partners don’t enjoy each other’s company and have different business values. Conversely, successful business collaboration relies on shared goals, a positive work environment, effective work management, and strong business ethics. Ask yourself, ‘Does it look like a natural fit?’ before partnering with someone. It doesn’t make any sense to collaborate with a company dissimilar to yours. The alliance between BMW and Louis Vuitton is one of the most prominent examples in this regard. Despite being in different industries, these two companies had one thing in common, i.e., they both marketed to wealthy people. A shared audience made them a natural fit for a business alliance.

Some experts have recommended partnering with your friends since business becomes more efficient when done with people or businesspersons you know already. Though navigating business partnerships with friends/family has its disadvantages too. So, we must also look at the following factors before collaborating.

Companies often partner with well-established brands with an excellent reputation to maintain their brand image. In other words, you should evaluate your partner’s public perception. Since you don’t wish to associate with brands that lack consumer trust, collaborating with well-liked brands or businesses always works in your favor. Just look at what BuzzFeed did. They partnered with the Best Friends Animal Society and made a video showing Emma Watson playing with some cute kittens.

• Commitment and Teamwork

You must look for like-minded individuals before allying. We would suggest you to work only with businesses that are committed to the plan and don’t treat this alliance as a mere side-gig. Avoid working with firms that put all the burden on your shoulders and show no genuine interest in sharing responsibilities. It would be best to collaborate with a company that understands its duties and is prepared to contribute wherever required. The commitment marks an essential feature of business partnerships that entrepreneurs initially neglect to take into account.

Teamwork is another crucial factor that results in the success of business affiliations. This teamwork is responsible for producing effective communication between the two companies. Companies invest in employees’ education to harness their potential and improve their critical skills. Thus, pursuing the master of business administration online degree allows workers to gain finance, marketing, and analytics expertise while being a part of the industry. After the collaboration, your team utilizes these skills to work with your business partner. If the other team doesn’t reciprocate the same willingness to contribute, the partnership won’t succeed. Since you two must act in liaison to benefit each other!

• Networking and Complimentary Skills

Your connection with the target audience perpetuates your survival in the industry. Partnerships are beneficial for your networking capabilities since they help extend your influence over the industry. So, before collaborating with someone, you must consider how broad their network is! Will you get access to more people without harming your existing customers’ interests? Of course, one of the primary aims behind business collaborations is to expand each other’s customer base.

We can see that Apple and Salesforce announced a strategic partnership in 2018. It allowed Apple to enter the CRM technology while Salesforce could make its tech more accessible to iOS users. That’s how a successful collaboration creates a win-win situation for you.

Nowadays, businesses look for people who have different but complementary skills since this difference makes affiliations more beneficial. When Uber partnered with Spotify, they used different but complementary skills to leverage each other’s audience. The partnership enabled Uber passengers to listen to their Spotify playlist during their rides. Such complementary skills ensure that partners don’t steal each other’s customers but benefit from their reputation to seek a quick business expansion.

Conclusion

It might sound strange, but most commercial alliances fail because businesspersons neglect to look for the right factors in such affiliations. In contrast, the right collaborations enable companies to expand by leveraging their connections in the industry. It prevents you from wasting your efforts and resources while inspiring you to become more efficient and productive. It further provides a win-win situation for you and your business partner and enables small businesses to survive and succeed in the long run.

 

Does your business rely heavily on printing documents and other materials? Would your business be crippled if your printing system or devices suffered problems?

If so, you might want to seriously consider adding professional managed print services as an integral part of your business processes.

If you’re not exactly sure what managed print services are or how they can benefit your business, we’re going to be covering some of the key advantages of having a managed print solution in this article.

#1 – Document Automation

The more automated your business processes can be, the better it is for continuous workflow. This applies to your document processes as well. If you can automate much of the process, this saves a lot of time and messing about.

When you hire the services of a dedicated and professional managed print services team, they can help you to automate your workflow with document printing automation processes.

Also, when all of your documents are digitised, you can easily track their whereabouts. This also vastly reduces the manual handling of paper documents.

Anything that streamlines workflow is positive for your business. Document automation is also more secure as you create a digital copy of your documentation.

#2 – Receive Expert Advice On the Right Printing and Copying Equipment for Your Business

Every business is unique and will have different requirements when it comes to printing and photocopying. Rather than trying to match your documents to an existing printer and suffering from limitations, your managed print services team will be able to offer you sound advice on the right equipment for your operation.

They will assess your business needs and be able to devise an equipment setup that’s tailor-made for your business, so you no longer have to deal with any printing or copying limitations.

For example, why struggle with a multi-function machine that can only handle A4 size when you sometimes need to print in A3?

#3 – Save Time for Your Employees

Why consume the valuable time of your employees when it comes to dealing with the printing system? Instead, hire a professional service, have them take care of everything to do with printing, leaving employees free and less stressed to get on with the tasks they’ve been assigned.

Workers don’t have the time (or usually the knowledge) to figure out glitches in a printing or copying system. It’s best left to the professionals to deal with. It’s one of the key reasons why managed print services exist. It only makes sense to take advantage of expert help, rather than tasking it to your employees who have been hired for other roles.

#4 – Managed Print Services Can Reduce Costs

Generally speaking, when it comes to managed print services, you will only pay for what you need, if you choose a company that offers an all-inclusive maintenance package.

Managed print services can connect your devices to a cloud-based system so they can all be monitored at one time. This saves time and money by not having to deal with each printing or copying device separately. This type of monitoring will detect problems, so they can be addressed expediently, reducing any business downtime. Little or no downtime also saves businesses money.

Another way money can be saved is by not overloading your workspace with more devices than you really need. The more printers and copiers you have, the more money you have to spend maintaining them.

#5 – Improve the Security for Your Information

Professional print management services can help you improve the overall security of your documentation processes by introducing secure printing technology, as well as helping you migrate much of your business paperwork over into digital documents. Your managed print service will assess your business document processes and devise a plan that’s the most secure, as well as being efficient and cost-effective.

#6 – Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

If you can reduce the amount of printing you do and the paper you use, your business will be playing its part in helping to preserve the environment. Less printing means less electricity and less paper and toner or ink being used. Be sure to discuss sustainable options with your print management team.

In Conclusion

When it comes to managed print services, Australia has options in major metropolitan areas right across the country, so having a professional service to call on can be a huge benefit to your business and its ongoing success.

 

All successful businesses are powered by a vision that defines their goals, ambitions, and unique selling points. Companies that lack a vision only enjoy short-lived success before withering away. An overwhelming majority of startups fail because entrepreneurs neglect to strengthen their business plans with a ground vision.

A business without a clear understanding of what it aspires to be is like a ship that is destined to sink. In recent years, the corporate sector has embraced heightened competition, making it challenging to ensure business survival. However, in this fast-paced business world, creating a vision that inspires employees, business associates, employee monitoring software, and consumers and encourages connections is crucial. Once you identify your company’s vision, the next step is to ensure that your workforce is fully aligned and works well to turn vision into reality.

Many business owners fail to implement effective strategies due to a lack of formal training in business education. Higher education programs such as masters in business online or on-campus based serve as a vital bridge and a source of guidance for business enthusiasts for a successful entrepreneurial journey. These programs further equip students with dynamic leadership strategies and skills to design an impactful vision statement.

Keep reading to learn effective strategies to align employees with your company’s vision.

Reflect your vision through operational processes

Ideologies do not run businesses. Instead, corporate success comes with concrete planning, research, and accurate forecasting. So, how does one incorporate something as intangible as a vision for a successful business? Aligning your employees with your business vision is a goal that requires you to define your inspirations through work practices.

All businesses function through unique processes and operations that make their brand stand out among their competitors. It’s essential to cultivate a vision that is reflected through all operational processes. These processes include recruitment, training, production, sales and marketing, inventory management, etc. Similarly, the products or services you provide must reflect your vision comprehensively, adding a special touch to set your brand apart.

Effective employers remind their employees about their company’s vision through multiple mediums, such as emails, memos, and bulletin boards, to transform work processes positively. It further helps employees choose the right resources and platforms that may significantly support their organizational vision. Companies that fail to align their work processes with the intended goals face several financial and operational challenges. Solid planning, leadership, feedback, and business performance management can significantly help in this regard.

Inspire your Employees by Setting Shared Goals

Leaders lead by example, and the best way to inspire your employees is by acting passionately upon your vision. Your dedication and passion for your business vision act as a contagious force to inspire your workforce. Seeing you striving hard to live up to the essence of your vision will motivate them to achieve shared goals.

However, incorporating the company’s vision with realistic goals that creatively challenge your employees is crucial here. It allows entrepreneurs to frame their vision following an intricate pattern of goals. These goals and milestones lure employees to work for career advancement. Most importantly, setting clear goals will transform the vision into powerful inspiration entwined into the daily workload.

Notably, workplaces that nurture an ambitious workforce enjoy greater productivity and efficiency. Organizations that push employees to actively pursue their goals experience lower levels of absenteeism and employee turnover. You see, a happier and creatively inspired workforce is more likely to embrace your business vision than employees combatting restrictions.

Motivate Employees through Effective Leadership

One cannot stress enough the significance of aligning your business vision with your employees’ goals. Dynamic corporate leaders understand that their true strength lies within the creativity of their workforce. Leaders nurture, stimulate, inspire and encourage creativity to achieve their milestones by pushing employees to achieve their goals.

Motivation lies at the heart of corporate survival and growth. Organizations with demotivated employees experience an alarming rate of employee turnover and absenteeism. Toxic workplaces fail to develop productivity and efficiency, discouraging employees from embracing the organizational vision. Leaders believe in offering mentorship relations to nurture each employee’s strengths, allowing their talent to shine sans restraints.

Prioritize Open Communication

Communication is a powerful tool in aligning the company’s vision with the daily workload of the employees. Managers and executive leaders must promote clear and concise communication practices to ensure effective coordination.

Misinformation, ambiguities, and confusion are leading causes of halted productivity, inefficiencies, and lack of clarity related to the business vision. Miscommunication may result in employees misinterpreting the meaning and essence of your company’s vision. Hence, it is best to create a vision statement that is easy, simple, and understandable for all. If your employees cannot understand your future prospects, how will they deliver products and services to achieve your vision?

Creating an inclusive, encouraging, and feedback-focused environment under strong leadership will work wonders at sharing your vision with your employees. Employers who prioritize effective communication encourage one-on-one discussions, and team meeting sessions can make timely changes in their work processes.

Conclusion

Taking employees onboard with the company vision is of the utmost significance. Businesses that fail to align their workforce with their core ideals struggle to carve out uniqueness. Setting goals that are incomprehensible for your workforce may affect your work processes and can hurt your brand image. Be sure to work closely with team members to help them embrace your vision with clarity and enthusiasm.

Almost all websites should conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines for accessibility now, or risk getting sued for noncompliance. Thanks to accessiBe though, optimizing and maintaining web accessibility has become surprisingly easy. Let’s take a quick look at exactly how accessiBe can help your own site avoid costly lawsuits by ensuring its accessibility standards are up to date.

Manual Compliance Optimization Issues and How accessiBe Solves them

Prior to its release, webmasters had to go through every step manually, which was not only time consuming, but presented additional challenges as well. Even medium-sized websites incorporate new content at a rapid rate, but big sites do so almost constantly. This makes the entire process of manually optimizing screen-readers and navigation tools for accessibility every time quite a daunting task, which is also naturally prone to frequent human errors.

In 2020, accessiBe became the first software provider in this field to introduce fully automated, AI-driven web accessibility solutions. Till date, it remains the only smart solution which automates all complicated optimization steps necessary for websites to stay in compliance with ADA Title III, Section 508, EAA/EN 301549 and WCAG 2.1 guidelines.

Optimizing Key Points of Interaction for Better Accessibility

There are two primary points of interaction which must be made more accessible for disabled users. These would be:

1. Content on Screen – A screen-reader tool is used to help visually impaired individuals access their on-screen content.
2. Website Navigation – Web navigation is made more accessible by optimizing input methods like the keyboard, so that impaired/disabled individuals can use the website.

Failure to optimize a website accordingly can lead to lawsuits on account of them being noncompliant. accessiBe not only caters to both those standards, but the software can also do it better than anything else available right now. Which brings us to the next point.

Avoiding Lawsuits with accessiBe’s Sophisticated Web Screen Readers

When you install accessiBe on your site, the highly sophisticated and specialized AI empowers the software’s inbuilt screen-reader to do more than simply read what is on display. The smart algorithm scans, deciphers and reads out on-screen text in the most appropriate and relevant manner (based on each particular session), so that a visually impaired/blind user can find those readings to be most effective in delivering knowledge which they can’t perceive visually.

Making interpretations based on Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) standards, and by making behavioral adjustments as is contextual or necessary, the AI in accessiBe adds an unprecedented level of accessibility to any website.

accessiBe is the Most Comprehensive Protection Against Poor Accessibility Lawsuits

Most WCAG 2.1 accessibility compliance solutions available today only optimize websites to be more accessible for 2-3 types of disabilities. However, accessiBe can be used by webmasters to make their sites more useable for people who are:

• Diagnosed with cognitive impairment
• Suffering from partial/complete hearing loss
• Clinically blind
• Visually impaired
• Epileptic
• Motor impaired

accessiBe will protect your websites against lawsuits by automatically maintaining accessibility standards. However, that is not the only advantage here. It helps online businesses and other organizations to interact with disabled customer/interest groups as well.

 

As an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, this well-managed company provides affiliated health and specialty insurance plans for government and commercial clients. While the shares are down year-to-date because of coronavirus fears, we believe that the current share price provides an opportunity for investors looking for discounted opportunities in the health insurance industry. While Anthem may see a negative earnings impact from the pandemic later in 2020, we believe that its long-term prospects remain solid given its scale, rising enrollments, and strong balance sheet. We also expect the impact of the virus to be offset by the company’s new in-house pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), IngenioRx, which launched in 2Q19. As such, with the stock now trading at just 10-times our 2021 EPS estimate, we view ANTM as undervalued. Our revised target price of $300, lowered from $310, implies a multiple of 12-times our 2021 EPS estimate, still below the peer average, and a potential gain, including the dividend, of 16% from current levels.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Over the last three months, ANTM shares have underperformed the S&P 500, with a flat return compared to a 10% gain for the broad market. The shares have also underperformed over the past year, rising 9% compared to a 13% gain for the index. However, they have outperformed over the past five years, with a gain of 83% versus a 71% advance for the S=PSampHE=P 500. The beta on ANTM is 1.05, in line with the average for peers that include CI, HUM, and UNH. Anthem has taken steps to increase access to medical care for members during the pandemic; however, these steps may impact its 2020 financial results. Specifically, Anthem announced that it would waive copays, coinsurance, deductibles, and prior authorization for coronavirus tests. It also recommended that its members make use, when possible, of online services such as LiveHealth Online, which has made more physicians available to handle the potential influx of patients. It has also waived member cost sharing for telehealth visits, including for mental health services, waived cost sharing for COVID-19 treatment, and relaxed early prescription refill limits, when legally permissible, for members who wish to receive a 30-day supply of maintenance medications. The company has also created digital tools to provide information on the pandemic. These include C19 Explorer, which provides dashboards on infection rates and community risk scores to aid in reopening plans; C19 Navigator, which provides Anthem’s employer customers with clinical insights and predictions; and Biometric Passport, which allows employers to assess the safety of employees re-entering the workplace without compromising individuals’ health data privacy. It also includes tools for individuals such as Sydney Care, which provides real-time access to health information, telehealth services, and information on testing locations; ianacare, which allows users to co-ordinate practical help such as dropping off groceries and picking up medications; and PsychHub, which provides a range of mental health resources for people coping with pandemic-related stress. In addition, the portal includes access to Aunt Bertha, a social care network that helps connect individuals and families to more than 35,000 reduced-cost social service programs, such as food delivery, and help with paying bills. In addition, the Anthem Foundation has committed $50 million to aid COVID-19 response and recovery efforts in areas of greatest need. Management also announced that the foundation would match 200% of associate donations to certain charities that are helping to address the pandemic. Beyond its COVID-19 response, the foundation has also committed $50 million over the next five years to combat racial injustice, strengthen communities, and address health inequalities.

ANTM reported 2Q results on July 29 that topped analyst expectations for earnings but missed out on revenue. This was the company’s second consecutive quarter of better-than-expected earnings. The company posted second-quarter adjusted net income of $9.20 per share, up from $4.64 per share recorded in 2Q19. EPS topped the consensus by $0.62. On a GAAP basis, net income rose 104% to $8.91 per share. Total operating revenue rose 16% to $29.2 billion, but missed the consensus by $196 million. The increase was driven by pharmacy product revenue related to the launch of IngenioRX, higher premium revenue due to growth in Medicare and Medicaid, and the return of the health insurance tax in 2020, partially offset by a decrease in experience-rated premiums in the company’s Federal Health Products & Services business. Medical enrollment totaled 42.5 million members, up 4% year-over-year, while the benefit expense ratio fell 880 basis points to 77.9%, driven by the deferral of healthcare utilization due to the pandemic. Nonetheless, the companywide operating margin rose 580 basis points to 11.5%. Along with its 2Q results, management reiterated its guidance for adjusted 2020 EPS of more than $22.30. It also expects GAAP EPS of more than $20.91, down from its earlier estimate of more than $21.00. However, given pandemic-related uncertainties, Anthem did not provide other financial guidance for 2020.

EARNINGS & GROWTH ANALYSIS

Anthem provides health insurance for both government and commercial clients in the following customer groups: National Accounts, Local Groups, Individuals, Medicare Programs, Medicaid, Federal Employee Programs, BlueCard, and Specialty Products. The company has a track record of consistent growth. In 2Q, total revenue rose 15% to $29.3 billion, stemming primarily from operating revenue, with the remainder coming mainly from investment income. Premiums, which accounted for roughly 86% of operating revenue, rose 7% to $25.1 billion; product revenue, which consists of revenues from the newly created IngenioRx segment, accounted for 9%, or $2.5 billion; and administrative fees and other revenue, which accounted for the remaining 5%, rose 70 basis points to $1.5 billion. By segment, operating revenue grew 11% to $17.2 billion in the Government Business (59% of total operating revenue), but fell 7% to $8.8 billion in the Commercial & Specialty Business (30% of operating revenue). The operating margin rose 520 basis points in the Commercial & Specialty business to 15.6%, and 630 basis points in the Government segment to 9.4%. The operating margin for IngenioRx was 5.8%. We are raising our 2020 adjusted EPS estimate to $22.80 from $22.32, representing full-year earnings growth of 17%, based on the company’s ability to increase margins and our expectations for further strong contributions from IngenioRx (despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic). We are also raising our 2021 EPS estimate to $25.50 from $25.48, implying 12% growth next year.

FINANCIAL STRENGTH & DIVIDEND

Our financial strength rating on ANTM was raised from Medium Medium-High, the second-highest rank on our five-point scale. The company received above-average marks on our three main financial strength criteria: fixed-cost coverage, debt levels, and profitability. As of June 30, 2020, Anthem had cash and equivalents of $6.03 billion, up from $4.94 billion at the end of 2019. Total debt was $22.48 billion, up from $20.09 billion at the end of 2019, but accounted for 39% of total capital, down from 40% and below the peer average of 41%. We view average levels as 50%-55%. Operating income of $3.36 billion was up 135% and covered interest expense by a factor of 17, up from 8 in 2Q19; our view of an average interest coverage ratio is 10-12. The second-quarter adjusted profit margin was 8.1%, up from 4.8% in the prior-year period. Second-quarter operating cash flow of $5.51 billion was up 283%. Moody’s rates the company’s debt as Baa2/stable and S&P rates it as A/stable. Anthem has a share buyback program. It resumed buybacks in late June after suspending them in March due to the pandemic. During the second quarter, it repurchased $55 million worth of its stock. As of June 30, 2020, it had $3.2 billion remaining on its buyback authorization. The company pays a quarterly dividend. It raised the payout by 19% in late January 2020 to $0.95 per share, or $3.80 annually, for a yield of about 1.5%. Its last quarterly payment was on September 25 to holders on record as at September 9. Our dividend estimates are $3.80 for 2020 and $4.00 for 2021.

MANAGEMENT & RISKS

Gail K. Boudreaux has been the president and CEO of Anthem since November 2017. She previously served as the CEO of United Healthcare, a division of UnitedHealth Group, where she increased membership by more than 8 million members in six years. Elizabeth E. Tallett is Anthem’s Chair, and has been a member of the board since 2013. John E. Gallina is executive VP and CFO. He joined the company in 1994 and became CFO in June 2016. Investors in ANTM shares face risks. The company must accurately predict healthcare costs in order to set appropriate premiums. Its business could also be impacted by changes in funding for Medicare and Medicaid programs, and by other factors that could reduce enrollment. In addition, Anthem faces a range of regulatory, compliance, and legal risks, including ongoing lawsuits. As highlighted above, the company also faces risks related to the spread of COVID-19.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Based in Indianapolis, Anthem is one of the largest health insurance companies in the U.S. As an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, the company serves members in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as specialty plan members in other states. ANTM shares are included in the S&P 500 Index.

VALUATION

At current prices near $260, ANTM shares are trading above the midpoint of their 52-week range of $171-$310. From a technical standpoint, the stock has advanced roughly 53% from its 52-week low of $171.03 in March 2020 and is currently up about 9% for the year. While ANTM has followed a long-term trend of gradually lower highs dating back to its all-time-high of $317.99 in February 2019, we believe that it currently offers significant upside. The stock faces resistance near $300 per share, roughly marking an extension of the line connecting its February 2019, July 2019, January 2020, and June 2020 highs. On the flipside, discounting the sharp declines in both the market and the stock in March 2020, the shares found support earlier this month at their 200-week moving average. Furthermore, with both the 14-day and 14-week relative strength index below 50, we believe that ANTM has more potential upside than downside in the near term. To value the stock on a fundamental basis, we use peer and historical multiple comparisons, as well as a discounted cash flow model. The shares are trading at 10-times our 2021 EPS estimate, below the five-year historical average of 14 and the industry average of 17. They are also trading at 0.6-times sales, compared to an industry average of 1.1. Despite concerns about the impact of the coronavirus, we believe that the company’s strong growth through the first half of the year, rising enrollments, new in-house PBM, and regular dividend hikes warrant a premium valuation. Our revised target price of $300, lowered from $310, implies a multiple of 12-times our 2021 EPS estimate, and a potential gain, including the dividend, of 16% from current levels.

Pricing is one of the most difficult strategies in SaaS application that needs to be developed. There are things that could impact revenue and the future of the company. Many SaaS startups don’t usually think of this important factor as they face the overwhelming task of making and running SaaS business, says Josh Melick.

Many SaaS groups tend to do bronze, silver, or gold plans where each tier comes with more features. Melick mentioned that they may also use it separately or just a part of it and see per seat licensing and or other “usage” pricing qualifications. Like “This many users” or “send this many messages or “use this much storage space”.

2 Dimensional Plans :

Those mentioned above are what Melick sighted as dimensional plans. One is the tier, the other dimension is usage. Most of the new businesses tend to think simply and just use one dimension. Use just one plan, or usually don’t charge users anymore. It might be good for some cases such as selling to SMB’s with few employees, or specialty apps like accounting or legal department which is of but a few users. For this particular dimension, it might include enough messages or storage for most users, or protect it against extreme usage, said Melick.

Melick advised that “Grandfathering” customers is a common strategy that startup businesses use into all inclusive packages with no upsells. Problem is, they might be creating a legacy of no price increase and in result, the business will not be charged for increased features that the business may create in the future. Other companies are hesitant in adding a “pricing gate” as it will discourage current customers into using new features – that is where the problem lies as the company needs the customers to give them feedback so that the company can perfect the platform and make best experiences. And that is the actual concern.

All of this may cost the business some money and the business has left out other pricing dimensions that are as essential.

There’s a Third Dimension and it matters.Time is the third dimension. The prices in your business as well as those that are around it will rise over time. You can’t just depend on changes, upgrades or even inflation to grow your share in time. Increasing prices in line with the inflation might cost you money in the long run. Prices may increase over time to stay competitive in the business and adjust with the inflation.Growth is needed. Growth-minded SaaS businesses are well aware that over time, every area in the business needs to grow. Grow on features, customers. Expanding accounts and lands. This is how businesses achieve the most sought after “Net Negative Churn”.

More startup businesses are hoping that prices will eventually rise over time and it’ll come naturally in one of the dimensions Melick mentioned like the usage of the customer will increase in the long run or customers liking the business’ new feature. These strategies are optimistic but don’t guarantee a revenue in the future. Rather than waiting for the price rise to happen, be straightforward and make it happen. Right then, the revenue will follow, says Melick.

How do you do that? Melick said that it won’t be easy but it is possible to take consideration of time to the account and adjust the pricing accordingly leading to higher revenues. Here are some pointers from Melick:

First, the hardest but most obvious to do is changing the price. Each year, increase the business prices to 5-10% without grandfathering. Definitely there will be feedback by doing this – it could be good, bad and ugly. There will be certain loyal customers of your business that will stay. It will be good as well if you can run some models on how much you can afford to lose and can still come up ahead with regards to the prices. Raising prices works because if not, it wouldn’t be in the standard private equity takeover playbook.

Second, include in each renewal cycle that the price will increase by percentage (5-7%) in the annual agreements clause. It works well in businesses that tend to negotiate. Naturally customers will try to negotiate. This will challenge your sales team, you might come into agreement with the customer for a flat increase once they are not satisfied by the end of the term. This strategy is with an added bonus as it gives customers a good reason to discuss the account by the end of the term. If you have confidence with your product, customers will continue on using it. Evergreen renewals without communications don’t get the business feedback.

Lastly, once automatic price increase is in place, business can already negotiate with the customers – but update customers instead. With more features or users, business may offer to waive the 7% for an upgrade to the next tier.

Pricing is a constant issue for SaaS founders. For the business revenue and profit number to be able to meet the goals, it is important to get the pricing element right. No one ever said that setting pricing is easy, don’t hesitate and check with experts if you need assistance. Don’t ignore it, hoping that it’ll solve problems by itself finishes Melick.