Baobab Partners: Our Global Start-Up Story

When Baobab Partners CEO Stratten Waldt left a full-time position to become a freelancer, he had no idea that he would be running a global business just 3 years later. But an innovative approach to business and his can-do attitude resulted in happy clients, and as the business took off, he quickly realised that he needed to hire a team. Stratten partnered with a fellow Duke student, and together they founded Baobab Partners in late 2017. 

In 2017, while Stratten remained in the US, his business partner was pursuing further studies in the UK. Having a CEO and CTO on opposite sides of the planet may seem crazy to many, but for this duo it worked extremely well. The time difference made it easy for his partner to fit work around his studies and it was during this time that they found their first hire, a fellow Masters student based in the UK. It quickly became apparent to both that hiring internationally was the logical approach. They could hire the person with the best skills who would be the right fit for the team without geographical limitation and moreover, they could offer services to clients round the clock without resorting to insomnia.   

From the beginning, they took every opportunity to develop an intentional work culture based on a strong sense of internal cohesiveness. They emphasized that while Baobab was still young and in the early stages of development, clear communication was a top priority, along with mutual respect and transparency. This ethos has been maintained across all aspects of operation, from sales to expansion and hiring to internal processes. 

Three years later, Baobab Partners has offices in both New York City and Lagos, Nigeria. Our employees can be found around the world, from the U.S. to the Dominican Republic, Canada, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Kenya, and more. As a small company, we consistently check in on a more personal level across these international boundaries, and have learned to work effectively with varied time zones and diverse cultural backgrounds. Clear communication is imperative in this line of work, and it is something we actively work to maintain both internally and with our clients.

In light of the unprecedented scale of COVID-19, the intentionality and sense of responsibility with which Baobab is run is more apparent than ever. Our team is flexible and able to adapt to unexpected situations. We are committed to supporting our clients every step of the way. Our experienced team is always ready to maintain our high level of efficiency and professionalism in our work while continuing to provide skilled services with excellent results. 

6 Tech Tools Offering Free Access to Non-profits During COVID-19 Pandemic

There are few groups that need to stretch their funds as much as non-profits. They routinely accomplish amazing things on shoestring budgets and sheer willpower.

With the ongoing pandemic, the need to reduce expenses is more pressing than ever. To help the organizations who need it most, here are six useful tools that are being offered by their providers, free of charge.

1. Conga Sign

The Solution: With Conga Sign for Salesforce, non-profits can get essential fundraising letters, grant contracts, and forms signed instantly and remotely, so they can function more efficiently when their services are needed most.

The Offer: “We are offering nonprofits Conga Sign for Salesforce for free, to any non-profit that is not a current Conga Sign customer, through 9/30/20.* Our offer has no limits on users or transactions (no strings attached!).”

2. Form Assembly

The Solution: Secure Salesforce forms made simple. Solve data collection problems and save time, money, and effort with FormAssembly, the all-in-one web form builder and data collection platform for Salesforce. FormAssembly maintains compliance with regulations such as: HIPAA in the U.S., GDPR in the EU, and related privacy acts in Australia, the UK, and other countries.

The Offer: “To help those serving on the front lines, FormAssembly is offering free Compliance Cloud accounts and Implementation Services to organizations with projects involved in the fight against COVID-19. FormAssembly’s data collection platform can be leveraged for multiple use cases, including self-assessment questionnaires, epidemiological studies, clinical trial screening, volunteer registration, donations, and more.”

3. Dropbox

The Solution: Dropbox lets anyone upload and transfer files to the cloud and share them with anyone. Back up photos, videos, documents, and other files to cloud storage, then access files synced with any of your computers or mobile devices from anywhere. With advanced sharing features, it’s easy to send files—large or small—to friends, family, and co-workers.

The Offer: “Free three-month subscription for non-profits and NGOs that are focused on fighting COVID-19 and to K-12 teachers who are facilitating distance learning.”

4. HelloSign

The Solution: HelloSign allows you to electronically request and add legally valid signatures to any document, from new hire agreements to loans and NDAs. HelloSign is available in an intuitive web interface, a developer-friendly API, or as a Salesforce add-on.

The Offer: “Free three-month subscription for non-profits and NGOs that are focused on fighting COVID-19 and to K-12 teachers who are facilitating distance learning.”

5. Asana

The Solution: Use Asana to quickly capture tasks, to-dos, reminders, and ideas. Get updates from teammates, organize tasks and projects for work, or manage your to-do list for the day. With Asana’s mobile app, you can stay on top of your work from anywhere.

The Offer: “We'd love to support non-profits working in medical research and disaster response related to COVID-19. If your non-profit is on the front lines of research & testing of COVID-19, we'd like to offer a free one year subscription to Asana Business for non-profit organizations that are new or current Asana Basic customers.”

6. Slack

The Solution: Slack brings team communication and collaboration into one place. Use Slack to: communicate with your team and organize your conversations by topics, projects, or anything else that matters to your work; message or call any person or group within your team; share and edit documents and collaborate with the right people all in Slack; and integrate the tools and services you already use into your workflow, including Google Drive, Salesforce, Dropbox, Asana, Twitter, Zendesk, and more.

The Offer: “Non-profit organizations of any size are eligible to receive three months of Slack's Standard or Plus plan for their workspace free of charge.”

We hope you find this list useful. If there are any other applications or services you know of that are offering access for free or at a discounted rate, please share them with us and we'll do our best to make sure they receive the attention they deserve.

Offshore Offices: Is Africa the Future? Our Experiences Going Global

For years, many leaders and institutions have been lauding Africa as the future in terms of producing technologically capable individuals—Nairobi was dubbed the “Silicon Savannah ” of Africa as far back as 2006. But not many companies have been able to tap into those possibilities. There are many reasons for this, including regional political upheavals, a lack of hardline infrastructure, and difficulty establishing local connections. The level of uncertainty presents a nearly insurmountable obstacle, even if the opportunities are otherwise appealing. 

In the late 20th century, India became the go-to supplier for offshore IT support and development resources. The establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995 helped facilitate international agreements which reshaped those industries over the next 20 years. The Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which entered into force on July 1, 1997, eliminated all taxes and tariffs on IT products by its signatories. 

Prior to starting Baobab Partners, CEO Stratten Waldt worked extensively with offshore resources in his engagements with other consulting firms. However, there were considerable drawbacks to this strategy; significantly different time zones (IST is 9 ½ or 10 ½ hours ahead of EST, depending on daylight savings), language barriers which could often lead to inefficiencies and mistakes, and cultural differences in work style that create unnecessary friction. 

In 2017, Stratten was in the early stages of building what would become Baobab Partners. Stratten met his co-founder at Duke University; their friendship and later business partnership led them to his business partner’s home country of Nigeria, which would eventually play a vital role in the development and direction of Baobab.

In 2018, the idea of developing an offshore team became increasingly appealing as a way of supporting the company's continued growth. 

The potential in the young, booming population of African developers was clear, something Stratten witnessed first hand after several trips to the continent: "There is an entire population of skilled, entrepreneurial software engineers that don't have opportunities in their local markets befitting their talents." 

Moreover, the biggest challenges that might exist for a firm without local connections didn't pose a problem for Baobab. The local connections, in a region that was politically stable and possessed the necessary level of IT infrastructure, meant that the biggest risks to establishing operations were mitigated.

On top of that, many of the other possible drawbacks associated with offshore teams didn't come into play. 

• Time zones on the continent, mostly 5-7 hours ahead of EST, are very workable, especially for early-risers. 

• Nigeria's official language is English, meaning that communication issues are much less likely. 

• Most engineers haven't come up in a large corporate structure, and are more likely to thrive in the context of a start-up environment where they can actively have input into the products that are being developed. 

Stratten felt that Nigeria was the perfect place to open Baobab Partners’ first  overseas office. He sought out talented, reliable, and trainable developers and offered in return paid training, challenging and exciting work, and opportunities for personal growth. In December 2018, the Baobab Partners Lagos office was opened.

Baobab Partners has been an international team from the start. Today our team members are based in the US, UK, Canada, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, and more. Stratten recognized that having a global team from the start offered great advantages: “Without geographical limitations, as long as they have an internet connection, we can hire amazing people and provide around-the-clock support to clients worldwide.” Stratten took what he had learned about the potential pitfalls of remote work and put together a highly skilled team with a focus on clear communication and cohesiveness. 

Baobab Partners' connection to Nigeria is more than a simple business relationship: It has also offered an opportunity for the company to give back. Thus, Baobab Foundation was formed. Its mission statement is: "We aim to train disadvantaged youth in the US and internationally in software development skills, with the intention of improving their future economic prospects."

Baobab Partners’ goal when hiring is to seek individuals with the intuition to ask the right questions and who are willing to learn and grow as part of a team, irrespective of geographical location.  Mutual respect and loyalty develop naturally as the company’s needs align with those of prospective employees. We are extremely proud of the success of our Lagos office and our team as a whole. We further apply what we have learned to create IT solutions for our customers that enable them to build applications across multiple teams and locations—something which, in the current climate of COVID-19, has proven ever more valuable.

Zoom’s Security & Privacy Concerns: Is it safe for your business?

Zoom’s video conferencing software has been all over the news recently. With the COVID-19 crisis, the program has seen more use than ever before. This means that its security features and privacy practices have been put under a true trial-by-fire. 

With a multitude of news articles stating that it has security problems, it can be difficult to truly get a sense of where things stand. Which identified problems have been resolved? What are the current risks? Is this likely to be a recurring issue for the program? 

Here’s what you need to know about the security and privacy concerns that have been raised about Zoom since March:

Problem: Zoom “attention-tracking” feature unfairly monitors meeting participants.

On March 16, Vice highlighted a specific Zoom feature called “attention-tracking”, which many people argue enables unfair surveillance of employees. During a meeting, if the feature was turned on by the meeting host, an indicator appeared next to a meeting participant if he/she clicked out of the active Zoom window for more than 30 seconds. This feature could only be deactivated if the meeting host allows it. 

Besides the privacy concerns, Zoom's lack of note-taking functionality meant that users were compelled to exit the main window if they wanted to write anything down. The program's features are at odds with each other.  

Status: Resolved – Controversial feature removed by Zoom.

On April 2, a note on Zoom’s support page announced that the attention-tracking feature had been removed.

Problem: Zoom found to be sending user device analytics data to Facebook.

On March 26, a study by Motherboard showed that Zoom was sending certain data to Facebook, even if a Facebook account is not connected to Zoom or the user doesn’t have a Facebook account. Vice stated: “The Zoom app notifies Facebook when the user opens the app, details on the user's device such as the model, the time zone and city they are connecting from, which phone carrier they are using, and a unique advertiser identifier created by the user's device which companies can use to target a user with advertisements.” 

According to Vice, this happens frequently with Facebook since many apps use the software development kits (SDKs) from the social media platform to add features to apps, which results in data automatically being transmitted. Unfortunately, Zoom didn't disclose that this was taking place in their privacy policy, raising a number of concerns. 

Status: Resolved – Zoom removed Facebook SDK.

On March 27, Vice reported that the Facebook SDKs that were causing the data transfer had been removed, which was confirmed by Motherboard.

Problem: Zoom’s installation on MacOS devices deemed ‘shady’.

On March 31, a software engineer at malware tracker VMRay discovered that the Mac app installer used pre-installation scripts which allowed the app to be installed without final user consent and displayed a ‘misleading’ prompt in order to gain root privileges, which are tactics normally employed by malware.

Status: Resolved – Zoom changed installation process.

On April 2, The Verge announced that Zoom issued an update that changed the way the app was installed. Now users have to click through every prompt to manually install Zoom on MacOS.

Problem: Zoom meetings are not end-to-end encrypted, despite telling users that they are.

On March 31, The Intercept reported that the video and audio content of Zoom meetings are not protected with end-to-end encryption, directly contradicting numerous statements made by the company. Instead, Zoom uses “transport encryption, which is different from end-to-end encryption because the Zoom service itself can access the unencrypted video and audio content of Zoom meetings”, according to The Intercept. 

While software engineers admit that it is difficult to provide end-to-end encryption for group video calls, they point out that if that is the case (as it is with other apps like Google Hangouts), Zoom should be stating that directly. However, Zoom stated that they take privacy “extremely seriously” and that they have “layered safeguards in place to protect our users’ privacy, which includes preventing anyone, including Zoom employees, from directly accessing any data that users share during meetings.”

Status: Partially resolved – Zoom clarified its encryption practices.

While Zoom has not introduced end-to-end encryption, they chose instead to leave the encryption system in place as it was, but published a blog post on April 1 explaining their encryption practices in detail.

Problem: Zoom is automatically leaking email addresses and photos to random users.

On April 1, Vice reported that Zoom’s ‘Company Directory’ feature had a flaw. This feature is intended to connect people within one company based on their shared email domain name. Theoretically, when a user creates an account with an email domain name for a business, all other users with that same domain name would automatically be added to their contacts, displaying each person’s full name, email address, and profile picture. 

Problems arose when people created accounts using personal email addresses (other than the most popular domains like Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo). The information of hundreds of other users that they didn’t know, but who shared the same domain, became available to them. This seems to have happened primarily with specific Dutch internet service providers.

Status: Mostly resolved – Zoom continuously updates blacklist of domains and advises users to contribute.

In the same report on April 1, Vice quoted a Zoom spokesperson addressing the issue: "Zoom maintains a blacklist of domains and regularly proactively identifies domains to be added.” Zoom added those domains that were reported to their blacklist, but has not disabled the Company Directory as a default feature, so the risk is still present. Zoom also has a section on their website where users can submit domain names to be added to the blacklist.

Problem: Zoom feature was automatically displaying information from users’ LinkedIn profiles.

On April 2, The New York Times reported that the LinkedIn Sales Navigator feature, when enabled, would automatically connect users to their LinkedIn profiles and display that data to other meeting participants. Compounding this, the system did not notify users when their data was being viewed.

Status: Resolved – Zoom removed the feature in question.

In the same article, NYT stated that in response to these inquiries from Times reporters, a statement from Zoom said that they were “removing the LinkedIn Sales Navigator to disable the feature on our platform entirely.”

Problem: New automated tool is able to guess Zoom meeting IDs.

On April 2, security expert Brian Krebs reported that a recently-developed tool called zWarDial can automatically find approximately 100 Zoom meeting IDs per hour, or roughly 2,400 meetings in one day of scanning. This should not be the case with password-protected meetings. Zoom stated that, by default, all of their meetings automatically have passwords, but the tool still found large numbers of meetings that were not manually password-protected. This calls into question whether the automatic password feature is properly functioning.

Status: Partially resolved – Zoom urges users to set passwords.

A statement to The Verge the same day said that Zoom “strongly encourages users to implement passwords for all of their meetings to ensure uninvited users are not able to join.” If the meeting is specifically set up with a password, the automated tool was unable to discover its information.

Problem: Some North American Zoom calls were routed through China.

On April 3, TechCrunch reported that Citizen Lab had discovered that some calls made in North America, along with their encryption keys, were routed through Chinese servers. Zoom said it was done to accommodate the nearly 200 million users per day: “During normal operations, Zoom clients attempt to connect to a series of primary data centers in or near a user’s region, and if those many connection attempts fail due to network congestion or other issues, clients will reach out to two secondary data centers off of a list of several secondary data centers as a potential backup bridge to the Zoom platform,” as Zoom founder Eric Yuan said to TechCrunch. 

Zoom had accidentally whitelisted two of its Chinese servers to allow them to act as backup servers when the primary servers were too congested. Because Zoom calls are not encrypted end-to-end, Chinese authorities would be able to demand the encryption keys from Zoom on calls routed through servers within Chinese borders, allowing them to decrypt the data in the calls.

Status: Resolved – Zoom removed Chinese servers from whitelist.

In the same article, it was reported that Zoom had fixed the mistake in the whitelisting of Chinese servers, so they should no longer act as backup servers for calls from other countries.

Zoom has seen its fair share of public criticism. The questions and investigations into their security and privacy practices have been important and valid. Zoom has been quick to respond to these concerns, figuring out and implementing bug fixes or offering advice about how to avoid such problems in the future. Zoom founder Eric Yuan wrote a company blog post on April 1 entitled, “A Message to Our Users.” In the post, Yuan summarizes what measures they have taken to resolve issues in the past and provides an outline of their current plan to fix future concerns. They have enacted a feature freeze, promise to conduct “a comprehensive review with third-party experts”, and will create a transparency report about their privacy practices. 

Zoom’s ease of use, plethora of advanced features, and extensive customization options have made it the premier video conferencing software currently in use. Their security issues have mostly been resolved up to this point, but it is still important for businesses, especially those that frequently handle highly-sensitive information, to review the privacy features of any program they plan to use. 

Now that remote work is common enough to necessitate some sort of video conferencing abilities for the majority of companies currently operating, keeping information secure has become more difficult. If the information contained in your meetings isn't sensitive, Zoom may be a solid option because of its other advantages. However, if information security is more of a priority, it may not be the right choice, at least until a more thorough review can be completed.

Top Video Conferencing Software for Your Needs

Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, working from home has become more common than ever as companies strive to remain open while keeping clients and employees safe. Video conferencing software is crucial to enabling businesses to connect employees with colleagues and clients, ensure collaborative projects stay on track, and keep the business running smoothly overall. 

With so many options for video calling solutions available (and with new ones being released all the time), it can be difficult to find one that meets your specific needs. Here is our breakdown of five popular video conferencing programs, outlining their pros and cons and identifying which needs each one is best suited to handle.

All of these programs include the following key features:

• Video & audio conferencing

• Screen sharing

• Remote desktop

• Drawing & annotating tools

• PC & mobile versions

• Instant messaging/chat functions

• Dial-in option (some have a fee)

• Scheduling & meeting invitations

• Recording & playback

• SSL, AES-256 bit, and end-to-end encryption.

Best free tool: freeconferencecall.com

This website has been providing service for almost two decades and has had very few complaints since it started. It is one of the largest providers of online conference calls in the world. And, yes, it really is free—if you want it to be. They use a “Pay What You Can” policy, so you can decide to pay a certain amount if you want to. 

There are also premium features, such as additional storage or a dial-in number, which come with their own fees.

Pros: 

• Video conferencing can have up to 1,000 participants for free.

• Presentation tools and a free dial-in number.

• Integration with Slack, Outlook, Google Calendar, Evernote, & Dropbox.

Cons:

• Only 1GB of free cloud storage (can have up to 40GB for a fee).

• No file sharing or storage.

• Very few options for customization.

The bottom line:

Being free is a great draw, but you get what you pay for—it’s good for businesses with simple needs, but it does not have as many custom and advanced options and features as other programs.

Most user-friendly: Google Hangouts Meet

Google apps are frequently hailed as being pretty intuitive. Plus, many businesses already have G Suite accounts. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Google recently made all of the features in their highest paid Enterprise plan available for free to all G Suite users, through July 1, 2020.

Pros: 

• Integration with Skype and all G Suite applications, including Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar.

• Unlimited cloud storage in Google Drive.

• File sharing & storage, free dial-in number, and certain presentation tools.

Cons:

• Video conferencing is capped at only 250 participants.

• No integration with Salesforce, Slack, or Outlook.

• Reviewers frequently reported that Mac users have had trouble staying connected to calls or that the video and audio quality are not as strong as other apps.

• Screen sharing has been reported to cause significant lags during calls.

The bottom line:

For current G Suite users, this is pretty perfect since it will integrate with all the Google apps already in use, but if all of a company’s other communication tools are with outside apps, try something separate that will integrate with the apps currently being used.

Best all-inclusive package: Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams comes as part of Office365 Business, so it is not a stand-alone video conferencing software. However, there is currently a promotion to get a “freemium” license of Microsoft Teams that is valid through January 2021. This version offers video & audio calls with up to 250 participants, recording, screen sharing, chat, collaboration, integration with existing Office apps, and 10GB of team file storage (but no ability to schedule meetings in advance). The paid plans included in Office365 Business include those features, plus some additional ones.

Pros: 

• Office365 comes with a host of other Office apps and features, such as a 50GB email with a custom domain name and 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage.

• Integration with other Office apps, Google Drive, Slack, Skype, & Dropbox.

• Automatic transcription, file storage & sharing, whiteboard collaboration, note-taking, background-blur technology, and ability to host live events with up to 10,000 people.

Cons:

• Video conferencing is capped at only 250 participants & there is a fee for a dial-in number.

• No integration with Salesforce, Google Calendar, or iCal.

• Reviewers frequently report that the user interface is confusing and overly compartmentalized.

The bottom line: 

If the only thing a company wants is video calling, then this may not be the right choice (except maybe the freemium version). But for businesses looking for a one-stop shop for most of their professional communication tools, then Office365 would definitely be one to consider.

Largest meeting size: GoToMeeting

While the regular paid plans host video conferencing for up to 250 participants, companies needing more can contact the sales team to set up a custom rate for up to 3,000 participants. LogMeIn, Inc. also offers other programs, such as GoToWebinar and GoToTraining that work well all together, but there are no price discount or bundle options available for combining purchases.

Pros: 

• Integration with Slack, all Office365 apps, Google Calendar, & Salesforce.

• Unlimited cloud storage, automatic transcription, note-taking, presentation tools, free dial-in numbers, meeting lock, password-protected meetings, and recent audio enhancements, like background noise suppression.

• HIPAA compliant.

Cons:

• No file storage or sharing.

• Reviewers frequently say that the screen-sharing process is unnecessarily complicated.

• Customer service has a reputation of being unresponsive and unhelpful.

The bottom line:

This is perfect for those looking for a program made solely for large video conferencing that will also integrate with the other main professional apps that most companies use.

Best for businesses with advanced needs: Zoom

We’ve all heard about Zoom recently. Its usage has skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for good reason. It has tons of options for customization and advanced features, some of which are not offered with any other software. But we’ve also heard about them in the news for other reasons. In March, many of their security and privacy practices began to raise questions. They had their Facebook scandal, where it was discovered that Zoom was sharing device analytics data with Facebook without telling its users. But that issue was resolved on March 27 (confirmed by Motherboard). There is a free version, but it can only host up to 100 participants and each meeting has a 40-minute time limit. Here are the details of the paid versions.

Pros:

• Video conferencing with the highest paid plan can have up to 1,000 participants and a 24-hour time limit.

• Integration with Slack, Salesforce, Skype, Outlook, Google Calendar, iCal, Dropbox, Telehealth, & Polycom systems.

• Automatic transcription, presentation tools, whiteboard collaboration, polls, file sharing & storage, background settings, and many customization options.

• Can integrate well with a long list of external video and audio equipment, so it’s the best option for broadcasting in a large conference room or working with many people in one place.

Cons:

• Extra fee for dial-in number and for cloud storage over 1GB.

• Some of the advanced features allow what some people deem “unfair” surveillance of employees, including:

  • Attention-tracking, which notifies hosts when a meeting participant navigates away from Zoom as their primary window. This means that people clicking out of the video to take notes or check a reference versus watching cat videos on Facebook would all be notified in the same way to the host.

  • Administrators can join any call at any time, without previous warning or consent of the meeting participants.

• “Zoom-bombing” has become rampant, due to the program’s increased popularity. This is when meeting participants or hijackers exploit features such as screen-sharing to display unwanted or offensive material that would be visible to all participants. There are ways to prevent Zoom-bombing, but they are complicated and not very intuitive.

The bottom line: 

Zoom has its issues, but those problems can be avoided if people are willing to put in the effort. Its unique, advanced features and customization possibilities are unparalleled by other programs, making it a useful, if somewhat complex, program for businesses desiring the most innovative software. However, for industries with more stringent privacy regulations, such as healthcare/HIPAA, the program should be thoroughly evaluated to determine if the usability is worth the risk.  

Baobab Partners has been a primarily remote firm since day 1, and we have extensive experience setting up IT solutions that empower companies to work effectively without being in an office. If you're struggling with questions of process or technology, or just how to handle the transition to an all-virtual workforce, please reach out to us directly at 919-724-9260. We are offering all businesses a free 30 minute consultation to offer our support during these difficult times.

Quarantined in Ecuador: How Working Remotely is Keeping Me Alive

I’ve been backpacking in Central and South America for the past few months. When the Coronavirus situation first caused some countries to close their borders, I joked with my family about getting stuck outside the U.S. The situation was serious in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. long before it hit South America. 

Because I was so far removed from the situation, it was difficult to get a sense of how severe things were getting. Suffice to say, I did not see it as a good enough reason to end my trip early. Things were still pretty normal in Ecuador—until mid-March, when Ecuador mandated a nationwide quarantine. Suddenly, businesses were closed, activities were suspended, in-country transport halted, and flights became restricted.

I had originally planned on heading back to the U.S. after a few weeks in Ecuador, which would have put me back home last weekend. Unfortunately, for the entire first week of the quarantine, there were exactly zero flights leaving Ecuador for anywhere in the U.S. This week, they have started to have one or two flights going to Miami each day, but they are extremely expensive and fill up quickly. 

Since I had budgeted for this trip to end in mid-March, I suddenly found myself in a predicament. I was not only stuck in the country of Ecuador, but in the exact city and residence where I had been when the quarantine was suddenly announced. As of that morning, no hostels or hotels were allowed to accept new guests. I was lucky that I happened to be staying in a safe and comfortable place (that’s pretty swanky, if I’m being honest) when the quarantine started. Unfortunately, this location was also twice as expensive as any of my other planned stays. It was supposed to be a treat to myself before the end of the trip, but this put me in quite a pickle financially. 

I had been working for Baobab Partners as a freelance marketing and content writer off and on for over a year before taking these few months off in order to fully take advantage of my travel experiences. I was planning to start up again with my return in March. For most people who take a few months off of work, going back to a normal work schedule would require being physically present in a specific place. 

Fortunately for my current situation, that is not the case. Acting as a remote freelancer gives me the unique ability to work normally from anywhere in the world. All I need is a wifi connection and we are good to go. For this reason, I am thankful this didn’t happen in January, when I was in the middle of the Costa Rican jungle with no electricity or running water (and only mediocre wifi—they really have got to work on that). 

Since my place of residence has a wifi connection (only a step above the Costa Rican jungle, really), I am able to support myself during this uncertain time by returning to my normal job. If Baobab Partners were not a remote worker friendly firm, I would not be able to pay for this residence or food while here, especially since it is for an indeterminate amount of time. There’s no way I would be able to find work here; most of the country is shut down right now, so how could I possibly find a way to make money? Working remotely is quite literally keeping me alive at the moment. 

Being able to take my laptop out to my hammock by the river and work while peacefully swinging away—that’s just a perk. ☺

Samantha is a North Carolina-based remote freelance writer and editor for Baobab Partners.

Managing Your Team While Working from Home

Managing your team remotely may seem daunting at first, but COVID-19 has made this the only option for many of us. Here at Baobab Partners, most of our managers have worked remotely for years, and we have an abundance of experience in how to do this successfully. 

We want to share with you what we’ve learned about how to manage your team effectively from home (or bunker, wherever you find yourself these days). Here are our top 5 tips:  

Communicate, communicate, communicate.

If you remember only one tip from this article, let it be this: There is no substitute for dialogue. Particularly in times of change and high-stress, scheduling regular check-in meetings with your team and clients is essential. These meetings keep everyone on track and up-to-date, and they allow you to receive feedback, listen to concerns, and resolve any issues proactively. Another great feature for internal communications is a messaging system, such as Salesforce Chatter or Slack. This allows fast communication among team members and is especially effective for those who need to interact continuously throughout the day. 

Lead by example.

If you have a team of people who are not used to working from home, then this is particularly important. Making sure you are diligent about remaining professional while working from home will show your team what is expected of them as well. Ensure that you are punctual, appropriately dressed for conference calls, and working in a clear, tidy, quiet environment. This not only boosts productivity but also maintains a professional image for your clients. 

Be prepared to adapt.

These are very uncertain times; there is no precedent or guidance for what happens when large portions of the world are forced to work from home. For some, demand is extremely high and you may find you require additional staff to cope. For others, business may be very slow and you may have to look into ways to cut costs and increase business. For all, however, change is inevitable. As a manager, you are likely going to find that changes must be made in different areas in order to adapt. From business processes to company policy, try to keep your employees informed about changes. Often, they will see issues before you do and may be able to suggest solutions. This will not only help you maintain good rapport with your team but will also minimise delays in delivering to clients.

Your CRM is your new best friend.

Your company CRM is fundamental to effective operation of your team while they are at home. It allows you to monitor activity and progress in real time. Both you and your team members must remain diligent about logging all activity in your CRM. This allows you to view the tasks and timelines for each team member, preventing unnecessary overlap, and keeps all relevant team members informed about the status of any given account, project, or task.

Enjoy increased productivity and morale.

Studies about people working from home have been largely positive, with results showing that the overall productivity and morale are higher among those who work from home rather than in an office. At this time, many people are spending extra time with their loved ones (both human and animal). This is a silver lining during a very challenging time and should be acknowledged and encouraged. In the long term, offering employees the opportunity to work from home provides many benefits for both employer and employee. It can result in an increased staff retention rate and thus a more experienced and effective workforce, and reduce overhead while increasing productivity. 

We know that times are uncertain, and even frightening, for many of us. We don't know how long this is going to last, or if we're still going to have our jobs by the end of it. There are few sources of leadership that project reliability and competence. 

We're going to get through this, but we're going to have to be responsible for ourselves. This is why it's more important than ever to have a plan for yourself and stick to (or develop) good habits. 

Baobab Partners has been a primarily remote firm since day 1, and we have extensive experience setting up systems that empower companies to work effectively without being in an office. If you're struggling with questions of process or technology, or just how to handle the transition to an all-virtual workforce, please reach out to me directly at 919-724-9260. I'm happy to give 30 minutes of time at no cost to anyone who might need help with these things.

Baobab Partners is a Salesforce.com certified consulting and development partner based in New York City. We are a team of competent, diverse, dynamic, and qualified professionals with experience across various business areas, including software and product development, design, testing, system maintenance, project management, and staffing options. We develop scalable and simplified solutions based on your organisational goals.

5 Tips for Employees Working from Home

In the current climate of COVID-19, working from home instead of the office is more than just a job perk; it’s an important way to be responsible and limit the spread of the virus. But how do you stay on track and minimize disruptions to your productivity and schedule while working from home? 

Here are 5 tips on how to work from home effectively: 

1. Prepare for work as you would if you were going into the office.

Tempting as it may be to stay in your pyjamas and enjoy that extra hour in bed (or even work from your bed), getting up and dressed and making sure you are eating a good breakfast will ensure that you are in the right frame of mind to have a productive work day. Keeping a routine is important for your mental health.

2. Create a proper workspace.

Having a proper workspace can make a significant difference in both productivity and professionalism. If you don’t have a home office, find a space that is quiet and has minimal distractions. If you have to make a call, ensure that you are somewhere with minimal background noise. For video calls, try to sit somewhere where there is nothing distracting in the background. If this is not possible, select a calling service that allows you to blur your background. If you share your living space, let the others know when you have calls in order to avoid awkward interruptions. If you can, this should be the same space each time. There’s a reason experts have been telling us to keep TVs out of our bedrooms for years—the same advice applies to anything with a screen.

3. Don’t take advantage of little or no supervision.

Working from home means you will likely not have an immediate supervisor in close proximity to monitor your workflow.  Although you will have calls with colleagues and supervisors, it is important to complete your work in a professional and timely manner, even with little or no supervision. Your employer is placing great trust in you when you work from home. Taking advantage of this by allowing your work to suffer by taking frequent breaks or doing anything that is not normally permitted at the office should be avoided. Abusing this privilege can create resentment among coworkers. The person most responsible for you is you.

4. Uphold a strict schedule.

Having a set schedule can enhance productivity and help your day flow even under normal circumstances. It’s even more important in times of uncertainty. 

Make sure you schedule breaks throughout the day. Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take your allocated breaks. It’s beneficial to take this time to stretch your legs and unwind for a bit. Try doing a short home workout or playing with your pets. The benefit—and sometimes detriment—of working from home is that you have many novelties at your fingertips. Take advantage of these only during your breaks. 

5. Maintain continuous communication.

It is extremely important that you maintain communication with your colleagues, superiors, and clients in order to inform them of any changes or progress in your work. Be sure to schedule internal and client-facing standard meetings for your team’s projects. Log everything in your company CRM and avoid handwritten notes. This is imperative to help your team stay up-to-date on progress and who is working on each task. A team chat feature such as Slack or Salesforce Chatter is another great way to maintain team communications. 

---

We know that times are uncertain, and even frightening, for many of us. We don't know how long this is going to last, or if we're still going to have our jobs by the end of it. There are few sources of leadership that project reliability and competence. 

We're going to get through this, but we're going to have to be responsible for ourselves. This is why it's more important than ever to have a plan for yourself and stick to (or develop) good habits. 

Baobab Partners has been a primarily remote firm since day 1, and we have extensive experience setting up systems that empower companies to work effectively without being in an office. If you're struggling with questions of process or technology, or just how to handle the transition to an all-virtual workforce, please reach out to me directly at 919-724-9260. I'm happy to give 30 minutes of time at no cost to anyone who might need help with these things.

Baobab Partners is a Salesforce.com certified consulting and development partner based in New York City. We are a team of competent, diverse, dynamic, and qualified professionals with experience across various business areas, including software and product development, design, testing, system maintenance, project management, and staffing options. We develop scalable and simplified solutions based on your organizational goals.

CRM explained

Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash

What is CRM, why do we need a CRM system, and how do you choose which provider is right for your business? 

In today's world it can often feel like we are overrun with acronyms, abbreviations and technical jargon; we all hear CRM, KPI, GDPR and so forth on a daily basis. But it’s often easy to lose sight of what CRM really means and its value for your business. 

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. But how do those three words become the basis for the enormously diverse online systems which we see today? Customer Relationship Management isn’t new, since the world began,  there has been known value in taking an interest in your customers and building rapport to gain repeat business. Fast-forward to victorian times and shopkeepers kept customer details on cards and filed them so as to ensure customers receive a personal touch and any member of staff could assist them without having to ask questions a customer had previously answered on previous visits. With the birth of computers came the opportunity to store this information digitally so as to eliminate the need for large filing cabinets and speed up the process of finding information while a customer is waiting. In the late 90’s, the first CRM online solution was born, today CRM systems can offer a world of opportunity for businesses big and small. With the era of online shopping and the change in the high street. 

Knowing every customer as businesses did a hundred years ago is today impossible. In fact, there may be times where you have no human interaction at all with a customer on their journey through your sales process. Yet customers today still expect when they contact your company for assistance that the customer service representative they are talking to is able to access the relevant information about their account to assist them. Similarly, for sales your boss or board will expect you to be able to give them progress reports on sales, new leads, etc or updates on the status of a particular account or deal. CRM enables you to have all that information and much, much more at your fingertips 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s easy therefore to see that (providing your system is well set up) CRM can be a real game changer, streamlining and automating the day to day running of your business. 

So now you know you need CRM, how do you choose a CRM system that works for your business?

CRM systems vary greatly in terms of capability and thus, in price. Most bill per user per month and within that may offer different packages on capability at different costs also. Here you should take a ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’ approach; do some research, some solutions may be too big or too small for your business and it pays to find one which is just right. Start by listing features that are important to you and ordering them in terms of how important they are to you and your team. For larger businesses, you can do this by sending out a survey to staff and getting their views on what they want. 

What’s next? 

Want to know more about potential CRM solutions for your business? 

Drop us a message and our team will be happy to walk you through some potential options.