Monthly Archives: December 2021

Your Guide to a Data-driven Solution to Shorter Sales Cycle with Freddy AI

The sales cycle is as important as the sales process itself. If the sales cycle is faster sooner the products reach the market. Closing the deals quickly and efficiently is also a capability that enterprises must possess. As per the reports, only 38% of organizations have an excellent sales cycle that lasts for months together. Shorter sales cycle ensures better ROI.

Data and information about possibilities and risk analysis should be kept handy to establish short sales cycle. Enterprises today need a tool that can convert these insights into strategy that can be implemented in the sales process.

Freshworks has come up with Freddy AI, an excellent solution that converts customer data with intelligence to guide sales team to reduce their sales cycle.

Below are few smart ways to shorten sales cycle.

Get complete buyer information

For the sales cycle to be short-term, the marketing and sales teams must be aligned with their objectives and derive results. There is a lack of transparency between the teams due to data fragmentation and distribution across multiple platforms like CRM and marketing automation software.

A unified CRM syncs marketing and sales information on a single platform. If you are in a marketing team, CRM should allow you to access insights collected by a sales person. It will help you create discounts, promotions. Trigger notifications, alert users about new features etc.

If you are in sales team, CRM should allow you to access marketing team’s campaign information to understand user behavior, transactional information and also get information about their activities before signing up.

It is important to have information about each other team’s funnel to develop efficient campaigns and make right decision w.r.t closing deals sooner and shorten the sales cycle.

Improve sales cycle with on-demand reports

Analyze how the sales team performs at every step of the buyer’s journey to understand what works and what does not.

Take help of a CRM solution to get insights into emails, calls, campaign performance, and deals such as open and cold deals. Analysis of sales metrics is of utmost importance to know about the deals completed and deals lost. Identifying growth opportunities should happen here to make well informed decisions. Other handy information like call duration, recording of the calls, interaction history will help in completing the sales cycle. Soon.

Lay down achievable goals and encourage sales team to close deals faster

Having clearer goals for respective teams will make the life of sales and marketing people much easier. The goals should be feasible by the teams and it should be motivating to both the teams to come forward and work together.

Goals help in gauging the performance of teams and chalk out future campaigns. Goals should be set based on past performance of teams or individual contributions, time-taken to achieve the goals and their outcomes. Goals should also have data about the number of current deals in pipeline, based on product or domain and their progress in the sales cycle.

Go for automation

Manual updating and redundant tasks are keeping sales team from accomplishing their targets. Tasks like updating and logging customer data, calls, and sending emails can be automated rather than doing it manually.

Today CRMs come with workflow automation with an array of functionalities like lead follow-ups, field updating and attracting new leads. They also streamline the processes and help in productivity. This in turn, will give more time for sales team to concentrate on priority tasks and close the deals sooner.

Automated emails and sequences

There are higher chances for prospects to turn into customers provided they are engaged as soon as they interact with your brand. With CRMs available to automate the processes by sending personalized emails at specific times and intervals, making the experience holistic and empowering to customers. It is a good way to ensure that every customer touchpoint is met and meaningful conversations happen regularly.

Deliver personalized interaction with AI

The norm is to pick up a new prospect, qualify and interact with them on the basis of their area of interest or the ability to purchase and take them through the sales cycle process. This process is manual in most of the enterprises. Did you know that you can automate the process of picking up and setting up the qualification process?

What we need now is a CRM with AI (artificial intelligence) that helps you make sure that all prospects are attended and qualified in the real-time, which can differentiate between hot and cold prospects and close the deals appropriately. AI will not only shorten the sales cycle but also helps in better productivity between sales and marketing teams. It also helps to focus on building relationships with customers.

Freshsales  brings Freddy AI, an in-built tool that aids sales team with actionable insights, predictions, and suggestions according to your business goals.

Freddy AI identifies the best prospects with predictive contact scoring, provides insights on deals, and drives them to closure. It also prompts the next best action to drive conversations and sends notifications about out-of-office prospects.

Conclusion

The road to success is not an easy one but definitely achievable with the help of trusted partners. Embitel is one such registered partner of Freshworks and has been associated with many successful projects of enterprises across various industries. Reach out to our sales team today and get a free demo.

How Microservices Communicate with Each Other

Microservices are a great framework for any enterprise, but it is of no use if they cannot communicate with each other smoothly.

Let us dig into the details of microservices and how they are associated with cloud native applications.

Every enterprise emphasizes building scalable applications. It is a fact that cloud-native approach is the best to overcome scalability challenges. One of the fundamental principles of cloud native is microservices.

What are Microservices?

Microservices are an architectural style and comprises of small modules/elements which are independent of each other. At times they are interdependent on other microservices or even a database. Breaking down applications into smaller elements brings scalability and efficiency to the structure.

Every microservice is deployed independently and presented in a different repository. There will an independent continuous delivery pipeline allocated to each microservice.

How do Microservices work?

Cloud microservices further break down the SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) strategy into smaller functional services. A collection of microservices becomes macro services where code updates or changes happen quickly and smoothly without interrupting the workflow.

A microservice task is to address one concern at a time. This helps in scalability, for example, if there are any code changes then updating the code of a single function is possible. There is no need to refactor or re-deploy rest of the framework of microservices. Even in the case of failures, the services are independent of each other thereby creating a reliable environment.

Another best part about microservices is that they are self-sustaining.

For example, consider a microservice in one of the clusters that have four subfunctions and one of the subfunctions fails. With lots of orchestration tools available in market today, self-healing can occur without human intervention. It happens without impacting the functioning of the framework and workflow. It is automatic and transparent to the end-user.

Microservices architectures are used along with Docker containers (packaging and deployment set-up). VM images were used for deployment until recently. But over time, developers have realized that containers are more efficient than VMs. With containers, the code (and required code libraries) can be deployed on any Linux system (or any OS that supports Docker containers). Containers are the perfect integration practice for microservices. The speed at which it can be launched or re-deployed helps during the events of migration or system failure.

Since containers are native to Linux, commodity hardware can be applied to a huge collection of microservices in any data center, private cloud, or hybrid multi-cloud.

Microservices and cloud-native architecture have always been associated together almost from the beginning, so it is common that the user community looks at it as similar practices. Microservices and containers can be run on any compatible OS (generally Linux). The OS can be present in the public cloud, on-premises, or in a virtual hypervisor.

Today with more development happening in the cloud, cloud-native architectures and practices have migrated back to on-premises data centers. A lot of enterprises are building their own local environs where they share the same primary characteristics as the cloud. The purpose is to enable a single development practice across any location. Popularity and more and more adoption of microservice frameworks and container technologies have e made cloud-native practice appealing and a necessity for companies.

How do They Communicate?

In the world of a microservice framework, any application is built through a collection of services. But each service in that collection has to meet the following guidelines:

• Loosely coupled
• Manageable and testable
• Ability to deploy independently

Task of each service in a microservice framework is to solve a business problem in the application or to support one. A single team will be assigned to look into the services and functionality of the application.

Benefits of Microservice architecture that are making it a popular service are:

• Easy to build and manage
• Services are classified around business issues
• Scalable and fast
• Scope for autonomous and independent teams

Let us look at some of the ways in which services can communicate in a microservices architecture.

1. HTTP communication

HTTP has the total control while choosing how services should communicate with each other. HTTP calls between services is a feasible approach for service-to-service communication.

In such cases when one service is dependent on another service, the services complete their task cycle and then meet the requests received from another service. This is called Synchronous HTTP calls between services. There is no coupling between services here. But those services that placed requests have to wait till they get the response, in order to perform any action.

HTTP asynchronous call is another option between two services. Here, the service takes request from the first service in case of multiple requests and immediately responds with a URL. This URL is used to check on the progress of the request. The services need not wait for their response as this happens instantly as coupling is loose. The services are isolated.

2. Message communication

In message communication, the participating services do not communicate directly with each other. The services push messages via message broker in order to reach out to other services. The message broker is the point of contact between all services. This reduces complexity and increases efficiency.

However, there is still some coupling between services using this approach. Both or all the services must agree on the message structure and components involved before the workflow.

3. Event-driven communication

An event-driven pattern is another asynchronous approach where coupling between services is completely removed. In an event-driven approach the services need not know about any common message structure. Communication happens through events that individual services generate.

A message broker is still needed here as individual services will write their events to it. However, the participating services need not know the details of the event. They only respond to the event that is happening and not any message that the event would deliver.

Conclusion

There are many communication patterns for microservices out there that are doable in a microservice-based architecture. It can be achieved in both synchronous and asynchronous pattern.

Implementation of the microservice looks easy at the onset. The size and focus of these smaller elements simplify the tasks and are much better than the archetypal monolith architecture. But in the case of multiple services that are interdependent, things can get quite challenging. The distributed nature of the system can lead to technical glitches. It will be better to deploy them as independent entities. However, you cannot do this at all times. You might need the help of another service to activate business logic. We at Embitel have been a successful service provider in this sector. Reach out to industry experts today.

This Next-Gen Modern Gantt Tool is Changing Our Approach to Work

The Traditional Gantt chart is a dated thing. A modern and complex work environment today needs something more powerful and structured. Today’s projects are multi-layered and stretched out for a few years. A simple Gantt chart will not fit the bill.

There are methodologies that integrate cross-functional teams. There are a few practices that use a flow-to-work strategy and carry out the team’s efficiency in order to execute the priority tasks on time.  Gantt chart is not designed to do such tasks.

For a project manager, communicating with different teams to recognize gaps in the project is inevitable. So, they use Gantt charts to track project schedule and show interlinks between tasks.

What is a Gantt Chart?

A Gantt chart is essentially a horizontal bar chart used in project management for a visual representation of a project plan over a period of time.

When Should Gantt chart be used?

• For efficient time management when a project has a hard deadline.
• For a seamless coordination, when multiple teams and people are involved in the project.
• For easy and visual access of timeline of the project to anyone involved in it.
• To manage multiple projects and balance the workloads.

Gantt chart is still prevalent in most companies and a lot of enterprises benefit from it. The Gantt chart just needed a makeover. Traditional Gantt charts were handy but needed some features upgradation to support complex implementation of projects.

The Gen Next Gantt Chart

Contemplating the above-mentioned factors, Freshworks has released an intuitive Gantt chart with a new generation project management module. This feature helps you get an overview of tasks and track the progress of workflows and plan accordingly. These Gantt charts comprise task lists, sub-tasks, and interdependency of tasks against a defined timescale.

The features that are part of the new Gantt chart are:

• A visual representation of the project tasks and their timelines
• Task breakdown into sub-tasks by the owner
• Color-coded task status
• Ability to add and view the dependency between tasks
• Filtering contents of the Gantt based on status, owners, team members, priorities, and other features.
• A pop-up box with task details when you move around the chart

Picture Credit – Freshservice Gantt Chart

Furthermore, Gantt charts simplify project manager’s job to a great deal. Below are few steps that are good to start with.

• Draw a horizontal line and visually map out the project plan. Start and end date for that task will be added automatically. Drag the line to increase/decrease the duration of the task.
• Hover the mouse over the project task to add task dependency.
• Break down a task into smaller sub-tasks. When the end date of the sub-task is added, the new end date for the parent task gets updated automatically.
• In case you want to reschedule the timeline of any task, just dragging the line will automatically reschedule all its subtasks.

Conclusion

The traditional Gantt chart is now being re-presented as a sleek and brand-new feature in the market. It is not just a bar chart for scheduling, it has now become a project map. The bird’s eye view of the project gives clarity to all the members of the team involved in the project. For effective management of complex implementation projects, you need an expert team like Embitel. Being a registered partner of Freshworks, we offer freshservice and project enhancements. Contact our team today to know more.

Why combining DevOps with Agile is the Best for your Business

The gap between different development teams is shrinking with each passing day. There is more inclusion and acceptance of technologies and working methodologies amongst the teams. It is a known fact that application development and integration form the crucial part of any business operations. This has made businesses enhance the pace of software development, integration, and innovation with the help of DevOps and hybrid cloud architecture backed by Agile development methodologies.

DevOps is responsible for a more collective, productive relationship between the development and operations teams for smoother and quicker development cycles with minimized production risks.
The other benefits of DevOps are transparency, and fewer bugs to fix which means more productivity.

Incorporating Agile Development

Traditional development environments are slow in delivering and it is not an easy task to make changes in the development cycle. It is time that enterprise IT environments are upgraded to leverage the speed of the software and benefit from the innovations of Agile release cycles.
Integrating Agile in the workflow will need a regulated approach to maintain the automated processes. This will help the businesses to scale and optimize their resources and workflows. DevOps integration will bring the speed and transformation needed when associated with Agile methodologies.

Benefits of combining DevOps and Agile Integration

• Release processes are simplified, and better-quality product offerings are delivered.
• Allows for better collaboration.
• More value and fewer risks in each release.
• Fewer bugs and faster fixes.
• Increased visibility.
• Customer loyalty.

Factors to be considered while integrating DevOps and Agile

Below mentioned are some of the most common hiccups while implementing DevOps into Agile development and methods to overcome them.

• Seamless Teamwork

DevOps architecture and Agile approach will give a better idea about all of the development factors for team members. It makes communication easy and transparent.
All team members involved in the development process should consider software functioning and its delivery and maintenance. Teams will have a deeper understanding about the service, management, environment provisioning, release cycles, automation tools and application integration.
DevOps adds business value and agile brings practicality to the team.

• Interpreting Software Lifecycle

DevOps principles when implemented at the beginning of the development cycle will save time and resources for all members of the team. This means fewer changes and minimal errors. DevOps and Agile together work on consistency and speed the product or service to the market.

• DevOps Adoption in Sprints

Agile workflow assumes that the software development process is divided into sprints, and therefore it is strategic to integrate DevOps management while handling sprints.
Follow these instructions as you start working the DevOps approach into your Sprints.

• Invite Ops/infrastructure/support personnel to plan sessions.
• Discuss product functionality and operability features.
• Include them in the upcoming sprint.
• Involve the DevOps team in sprint backlog planning and daily meetings, as well as sprint review and scrum and plan alignment.

The engagement and collaboration of your development team and operations team also keeps the Ops team abreast of functionality release timelines. The Ops team can then help the dev team in planning the release schedule with greater accuracy and can assist the dev team in shipping the product faster.

• Quality Assurance

QA/Quality assurance is a mandatory factor when integrating DevOps and Agile. Testing frequently will rule out any possibility of errors at every stage. This will improve the performance and load testing of the software. Continuous development leads to smaller release cycles and reduced time to the market.

• Service Backlog

Service backlogging is a must under DevOps while combining it with Agile. DevOps structure must include the following elements:

• Software Scalability
• Integration Efficiency
• Service monitoring
• Logging
• Alert Setting
• Testing capability
• Security and compliance details
• Operational performance

 

Right Tools
Businesses should take advantage of the right tools for a successful implementation of Agile and DevOps in the development process. Right tools will aid in software development process configuration. It will in turn help to create and replicate the framework using IaaC (Infrastructure as a Code). Developers will find it easier to integrate applications on different types of platforms without re-creating the code/efforts.

• Automation

Automating workflow is highly recommended when merging Agile and DevOps. Automation of code scanning processes will rule out any potential errors. Artifacts should be stored in a repository to simplify release cycles. This will enhance the overall productivity of the teams and there is less scope for errors.

• Documentation

Although Agile teams do not document minutes of meetings or any other communications, DevOps teams document the entire process till the software release. It is recommended that you have a draft of everything stored for future use.

• Measurement and Analysis

You need to keep track of certain metrics after Agile and DevOps implementation to know the performance and progress of the workflow. This will also help you to establish multiple successful release cycles. Time and cost effective at the same time. As per the Scrum Alliance Organization, below are the few parameters that we need to keep track of:

• Time taken from production to release.
• Percentage of release date adherences.
• Percentage increase in release numbers.
• Support requirements.
• Defects available in any platform.
• Percentage of NFRs (Non-Functional Requirement) met.

Apart from the mentioned metrics, you are free to measure any number of parameters as per your business requirements.

Conclusion

DevOps and Agile combination and its benefits are clear now. No doubt combining these two practices helps companies to streamline and smoothen the product lifecycle and release. But it can disrupt the workflow of the organizations. Businesses should be open to changes and have a favorable environment that supports the practices. With the help of an expert and reliable team in the market, companies can leverage desired results and gain scalability. Embitel is one such front runner in the market today who has an array of clients who have had successful collaborations with the teams. Reach out to our team here.