Share your files quickly around the world

There are often situations when you want to share files on your PC with friends, family or colleagues. You may know the traditional ways of attaching them to emails, or uploading them to a file sharing website. Here below explaining 2 easy ways you can share files. 

Dushare (www.dushare.com) 
Dushare is different from browser-based files sharing sites like Yousendit and Hotshare because it doesn't involve uploading of files. Therefore, there is no waiting involved; it allows direct, encrypted P2P sharing. Once you select the file to share, it gives you a URL to share with the other person to initiate the direct transfer from your PC to theirs. While the file transfers, you can also chat with the person you're sharing the file with, right in the Dushare window. No sign-in is required. 

Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) 
A little more complicated than the others, but Dropbox also offers a lot of features. Rather than just share, you can sync complete folders with multiple users by downloading the Dropbox application on your Windows, Linux or Mac machine. Any changes, additions you make in the Dropbox folder on your PC will instantly be reflected in the folders of others, as long as they are connected to the Internet. A big advantage of Dropbox is that you can also use it to share files from your mobile phone (apps available for iPhone/iPod Touch, Android & Blackberry) or iPad.

Argus ERP - Inventory Valuation Methods

Inventory valuation is very important for companies, as it is a major portion of assets and part of the balance sheet. So the company should valuate the inventory with most care and aware of the the valuation methods that suitable to their business environment.

When an inventory item is sold, the inventory account should be reduced (credited) and cost of goods sold should be increased (debited) for the amount paid for each inventory item. This works if a company is operating under the Specific Identification Method. That is, a company knows the cost of every individual item that is sold.

The inventory valuation method gives 2 important values 1) Cost of Good Sold (COGS) and 2) Ending Inventory. COGS shows on the Income Statement, while Ending Inventory shows on the Balance Sheet. Company inventory value can be determined as

Ending Inventory = Beginning Inventory + Purchases – COGS

There are three inventory-costing methods that are widely used by both public and private companies (Argus Inventory Software supports):

1.    First-In, First-Out (FIFO) - This method assumes that the units sold are oldest units on hand.

2.    Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) - This method assumes that the units sold are newest units on hand. 

3.    Average Cost - This method assumes that the weighted average of all units available for sale 

Importance of Inventory Valuation

When dealing with inventory items, we know the market shows different trends in trading of various products. The prices tend to increase or decrease, which means the choice of valuation method can dramatically affect ending inventory.

If prices are increasing, each of the valuations methods produces the following results:

• FIFO gives us a better indication of the value of ending inventory (on the balance sheet). It also increases net income because less cost old inventory is used to value the cost of goods sold. But should note that increase the amount of taxes that a company must pay.
• LIFO is not a good indicator of ending inventory value because the left over inventory might be extremely old and, perhaps, obsolete. This results in a valuation that is much lower than today's prices. LIFO results in lower net income because cost of goods sold is higher.
• Average cost produces results that fall somewhere between FIFO and LIFO.

If prices are decreasing then the complete opposite of the above is true.

For your company, you can review these valuation methods and decide one of them suitable to you. The chosen method must be applied consistently from year to year.

Argus Web Development Process Cycle

The internet is becoming part of everybody's life in Qatar, from schoolchildren through to senior executives. Increasing internet access in homes, schools and businesses is a key part of Qatar's economic development strategy, building the foundations for the advancement of its knowledge economy.

I feel the Qatar market is becoming more competitive day by day and most business organizations started to think of taking maximum advantage of suitable latest technologies. Argus is researching the market to know the latest trends and serving our valued customers with most care for the last 3 years. For a business, as you aware, first important thing you need a website. Before developing a website, we know that you set your main objective as - a visitor of your web should get utmost impression or feeling than the one who visit your office/ organization. At Argus, we develop your websites with most care and through well defined life cycle steps.

Like any software, website development also requires standard methodologies and procedures. We would like to engage in a web project after a detailed preliminary study only. Before undertaking any project, there is an introduction and consultation phase, in which we gathered important information about the client’s business and their audience. So that we can set the goals – how can the site best serve the needs of the client and the users?

It is important for you to know and convey the purpose of your website, the intended audience of your website, and the message you want to communicate via your website. These will vary depending upon your line of business and whether you are a commercial business, or are a non-profit or political organization.

We will do a detailed study about client’s needs and how we can create a site that will effectively communicate with the audiences they would like to reach. We will draft a sitemap and discuss with them again with more options and recommendations. We can explain the strategy that we applied in organizing the site and listen carefully your feedbacks for changes and modifications.

Argus website development process can be divided in to different life cycle steps as follows:
1. Requirement Analysis
2. Planning
3. Development Proposal
4. Acceptance & Contract
5. Content Collection
6. Content Writing – optional
7. Concept Design and Approval
8. Development
9. Evaluation and Assessment
10. Final updates and project launch
11. Promotion
12. Maintenance

POS solutions and Accounting Software in Qatar

Are you looking POS (Point of Sales) with strong inventory and financial accounting modules in Qatar? I will try to give you some guide lines to select a good one for your business success in future.

Finding a POS for you is not simple, you can find several ready available POS software, but you are not sure whether which one is good one for you and whether can incorporate your own specified requirements. So how can you choose the best one? It should be based on lot factors, try to find the important questions you should ask your self to find the answers. In every POS you may be find lot of features, some of that one you required, some not required, and some you need to customise as per your requirements.

Why I am suggesting you to think well before selecting a POS, from our earlier experience with customers, most of them not happy with ready available POS, as they can’t customise as per change to the business requirements. It is possible to find a good one as per your requirements which is less expensive as well as increase the profits of your business. Become the leader in your business by choosing perfect software for your point of sales with inventory management and financial accounting integration.

Major 3 objectives of POS solutions are

1) Save time

2) Provide improved control over sales

3) Provide improved service to customers

However most of these solutions available in market, may involve high cost of ownership, complex setup, and rigorous training requirements. So you have to make sure whether your selection removes these barriers with an easy to use, customisable and affordable solution. 

Selecting Accounting Software for your business in Qatar

Present business age, nobody can think of doing business with out using computers. Not only computers, you should have a proper business accounting software to manage your business efficiently. Especially Qatar market is growing rapidly and people looking latest technologies to compete others by improving the business performance in all areas. One of the main concern is to automate your business transactions, say, using a good accounting software. You can see lot of offering from various companies with different look and feel.

Accounting software can not only help you reduce human errors in your calculations, but it can help you gain insights into your business that you couldn't see in paper form such as generating sales forecasts for the next quarter, determining which items are overstocked, and pinpointing your least profitable service.

Finding the best accounting software program for your business can be a challenge, with an explosion of shrink-wrapped software products and online application offerings. In order to choose a business accounting software program, you need to understand some business accounting basics, take a good look at your business and its accounting needs, and assess the products available today. Finding a good one is not easy task, you have to check some factors relate to it and take a decision. Understand your business needs and choose a business accounting software that best suits your business. 

You have to study your primary requirements first. What modules and features you need in the system. Decide first whether basic needs enough or you require in detailed. The major another thing, you should have budget. Budget should balance with your requirement as you can’t expect a full feature one with very less budget.

Before selecting a vendor for your software product, you should consider the following matters to have a right decision based on that: 

1.    The size of your business

2.    Modules and features that you required

3.    Financial resources like budget for software & hardware

4.    Company environment and staffs to adapt the changes with software

5.    Ease of use

6.    Vendor availability and reputation

7.    Post implementation support

All above factors are equal important, other wise, the software may not 100% success in any enterprise. So study first to select a right vendor for a right implementation plan and get continuous guidance whenever required. 

Strategic technologies for 2011

If you are interested in technology, I am sure you heard about ‘Gartner’, the world’s leading IT research and Advisory Company, delivers the technology related insight necessary for corporations, government agencies, to business leaders and professional firms.

On end of last year, Gartner published the report, that top 10 technologies and trends for most organizations in 2011.  David Cearley, vice president at Gartner said: companies should factor these top 10 technologies in their strategic planning process by asking key questions and making deliberate decisions about them during the next 2 years.

The top 10 strategic technologies for 2011 include:

1.    Cloud Computing. Cloud computing services exist along a spectrum from open public to closed private. Vendors will offer packaged private cloud implementations that deliver the vendor's public cloud service technologies and methodologies in a form that can be implemented inside the consumer's enterprise.

2.    Mobile Applications and Media Tablets. Mobile devices are becoming computers in their own right, with an astounding amount of processing ability and bandwidth.

3.    Social Communications and Collaboration.  Social media can be divided into: (1) Social networking —MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Friendster (2) Social collaboration —wikis, blogs, instant messaging, collaborative office, and crowd sourcing (3)Social publishing —YouTube and flickr (4) Social feedback -YouTube, flickr, Digg, Del.icio.us, and Amazon.

4.    Video.  Technology trends in digital photography, consumer electronics, the web, social software, unified communications, digital and Internet-based television and mobile computing are all reaching critical tipping points that bring video into the mainstream.

5.    Next Generation Analytics. Increasing compute capabilities of computers including mobile devices along with improving connectivity are enabling a shift in how businesses support operational decisions. It is becoming possible to run simulations or models to predict the future outcome, rather than to simply provide backward looking data about past interactions, and to do these predictions in real-time to support each individual business action.

6.    Social Analytics. Social analytics describes the process of measuring, analyzing and interpreting the results of interactions and associations among people, topics and ideas.

7.    Context-Aware Computing. Context-aware computing centers on the concept of using information about an end user or object’s environment, activities connections and preferences to improve the quality of interaction with that end user. The end user may be a customer, business partner or employee.

8.    Storage Class Memory. Gartner sees huge use of flash memory in consumer devices, entertainment equipment and other embedded IT systems. It also offers a new layer of the storage hierarchy in servers and client computers that has key advantages — space, heat, performance and ruggedness among them.  

9.    Ubiquitous Computing.  The work of Mark Weiser and other researchers at Xerox's PARC paints a picture of the coming third wave of computing where computers are invisibly embedded into the world. As computers proliferate and as everyday objects are given the ability to communicate with RFID tags and their successors, networks will approach and surpass the scale that can be managed in traditional centralized ways.

10. Fabric-Based Infrastructure and Computers.  A fabric-based computer is a modular form of computing where a system can be aggregated from separate building-block modules connected over a fabric or switched backplane.

Read more http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1454221

Happy New Year from Argus Technologies Qatar

How to Promote or Improve your business using IT Soutions

When Qatar won the World cup 2022, every business owners may delighted with high confidence. Qatar promised to spend $50 billion on infrastructure upgrades and $4 billion to build nine stadiums and renovate three others. So construction activity in Qatar is expected to witness a significant surge. This will catalyse a lot of a lot of infrastructure projects and hope for business owners to do further investments. 

So what you think in relate with technology, no doubt, that is must for any business. Surely, business owners might be looking competitive advantage over others. My suggestion is to ask the following questions to self and find answers. How can you catch this opportunity to grow your business? How can you improve your business? How can you promote your business? Want a surefire way to increase your business this year? You should think of technologies that can help you to do business right way by competing others/ improving your performance.

Website

Your business simply has to have a website. These days, that's not a very expensive endeavor. A Web site has become nearly as essential as a telephone or fax machine or printed brochure. Increasingly, people search the Web rather than the Yellow Pages when looking for a service or product. Providing information to your customers takes time, whether it’s on the phone, face-to-face, in a brochure, or in emails. With an online catalogue you can provide lots of information about your products and services. Once your website is up and running, it is available to your customers indefinitely, saving you time.

Make use of email & online marketing

Email is one of the best methods of online marketing and it doesn't cost you much to use it. Marketing having to do with email includes:

·         Make use of the automatic signature. It should include your name, contact information and website. You can also highlight promotions that you're running or specific services in your signature.

·         Contact lists. Email is a terrific way of staying in touch with clients and potential clients. Make sure to include all new contacts in your email address book.

·         E-newsletters. You can create a brief newsletter which you email to everyone in your address book. This keeps your name on people's minds and gives them a reason to learn about what you're doing

Luckily, the Internet offers numerous methods of online marketing (SEO and SEM) that don't cost a lot of money.  You can find the methods helpful for gaining website traffic and increasing customer flow to the business.

Automation of business (ERP Software)

The business solution helps you to run your business smoothly and to promote growth in business. Look for software that can integrate all the key business operations, synchronizing all those, gives new planning and optimizing the resources available for the business. The automation of your business help significantly improve your business metrics by process optimization, better inventory control, better reporting to take decisions, integration across functionality and increasing transparency across the company. Purchase department can see the sales department data, Sales department can see inventory data, and top management can see any data on a click of single button.

How ERP system benefits your business ?

Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP in short, is the business solution, which helps an organization to run its business smoothly and to promote growth in business. ERP has been designed and developed in such a way that it can integrate all the key business operations, synchronizing all those, gives new planning and optimizing the resources available for the business. 

ERP is not just software it is a combination of software, processes and procedures used to reduce redundancy, create  efficiency and provide a platform for growth. So the solution can be accomplished through 3 major areas: 

1. Software

2. Implementation/training/ process

3. Guidance

The software provides that foundation, it is basically the tool to process the information. The best software system is the one that does what your organization needs it to do. Keep in mind that even the best system doesn't work if you don’t set it up and use it properly. Don’t get me wrong the software is important but not everything.

The main difficulties that an organization feels in order to run a business are the need of quick information. For making any crucial decision for running business one has to have all information with them and also the information which they require at any point of time should reach to them immediately. ERP improves coordination between all operations; it can simultaneously streamline the workflows and processes them according to the priority level, and hence giving benefits to the user. After installation of a proper ERP system the organization becomes more active in terms of time management. Another vital importance of ERP is of better marketing opportunities. ERP investigate every segment properly and thus gives solution to many debacles existing in an enterprise. 

The implementation of ERP system has helped small and mid sized companies, significantly improve their business metrics by process optimization, improving the entire business process, better inventory control, better reporting to take decisions, integration across functionality and increasing transparency across the company. Purchase department can see the sales department data, Sales department can see inventory data, and top management can see any data on a click of single button.

The introduction of ERP in any company has also helped it move up the value chain in term of market credibility and building the confidence of its customer, stakeholders and vendors. Most of the small and mid sized companies were living with in-house developed applications which are non-integrated and on disparate technology architectures. This has resulted in running with redundant technology, loss of support, non availability or less availability of critical information at the right time resulting in overall business loss.

Choosing the right Inventory Management Software

Why to have Inventory control software for you business?

Inventory control software systems have become inevitable in almost all of the business today. Inventory control software is a constitutional part of keeping the business moving fluently, whether it is an intense production unit or some service-oriented industry. The usage of software tools specifically designed for inventory control and management run deep into a company’s long way in keeping a company’s wheels running smoothly.

Inventory control software helps in inventory tracking and controlling the levels of stock, both real-time as well as batch stocks. The software usually has interfaces that can determine when stock needs to be reordered or needs to be scaled down because of less demand, which gives user the complete control over the inventory life cycle. This helps to keep the inventory always stocked up so that the user would never ever lose an order because of insufficient stock. The software can also spot potentially unwanted and old dying stock. It can track sales by drawing out intelligent trends and fact sheets over a period of time and report on orders that are expected to follow.

Argus Inventory Management solution in Qatar offers the most of the features, which is affordable to any small to medium business organizations. 

Choosing Accounting Software for your business

The accounting software systems provide major advantages such as speed and accuracy of operation, and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to see the real-time state of the company’s financial position.  When using a computerized accounting system the on computer, input screens have been designed for ease of use. The computerized ledger system is fully integrated.  This means that when a business transaction input on the computer, it is recorded in a number of different accounting records at the same time.

If you are just getting started in a business and want to make keeping the accounts yourself a bit easier, you can do this with accounting software. There are all sorts of different types of software you can get for accounting purposes, so it can be difficult to decide just which software is right for you. You will need to think carefully about your accounting needs to make it easier to narrow down the options that are available.

First of all, you want to figure out what features you need from your accounting software, since this will determine whether you will be able to start with a basic program or whether you will need something that is a bit more advanced. Especially if you don't have any employees and are just getting started you will probably be able to manage with a basic software package.

When you are choosing your software program you will want to look into the reviews for the various programs in order to learn more about the pros and cons of each type of software so you can make a more informed decision on which one to use for your business.

Of course if your financial transactions are complicated and you have a lot of them, you might want to get an accounting program that can be customized to suit your needs. These types of programs are likely to be more expensive, but they will make things easier for you overall so the added expense is probably worth it.

You will probably want to choose a program that is relatively easy to learn and to use in order to set up your accounts, so you won't have to spend a lot of time doing this. Once you get set up a program like this should save you time.

Property Management Software in Qatar

Some years back, when we planned to develop ERP applications for various industries, we noticed the booming Rea estate industry in Qatar and lack of good real estate applications to meet customer demands. So we decided to take this challenge and started to research on this domain. We met several property managers and financial experts to have a good exposure, to know what are the major concern/ issues in this industry. We did a detailed study and could develop a very user-friendly Real estate management software fully integrated with financial accounts. We still continuing our research and development, and listening carefully to our customers to make this solution a perfect one with maximum features.

What you expect from real estate software? Simply the software helps the property owners or the property managers on their certain jobs like keeping tenancy contracts, tracking of the rental properties/ rental units, tracking of payments from tenants, post dated cheque management, auto/manual monthly rental posting, prepaid rent, monthly rental status, computation of income and expenses, maintaining properties, distribution of admin expenses among properties to find the property wise profit, calculation of rental shares for investors, property & unit ledgers and much more. People with multiple rental properties or company having several properties would have a lot of advantage in real estate software because it makes the tracking of payments easier. The system includes various modules like Real estate, Financial Accounts, HR and Payroll, Projects and Fixed Assets.

The primary purpose of automating your real estate activities, in any industry, is to facilitate the normal flow of business. Software should drive you to work easier without compromising the specific tasks required. Essentially, a useful package will address every aspect of the workflow with minimal workaround and reduce the need for manual intervention. Effective software should not dictate operations; it should enhance how a company conducts business.  We provide clear workflows, addressing the major issues that property management firms face, though very user-friendly screens and easy steps.

  

How the system benefits you to achieve your objectives? If you are part of a property management company, I am sure the system helps to increase your satisfaction by meeting all of your requesting problems or can customize the application based on your requirements. During development time, we go through several reputed international software that help us to present major features in our software, in a simple way.  

Internet marketing solutions in Qatar

Just for a while, I am thinking about the world some years back without internet, how the people communicated and shared the things each other. And now, where we reached, in the world of internet and with lot of latest technologies to get connected very faster, beyond what we can imagine.

In business, before Internet age, business owners were usually limited to a local market -resorting to expensive advertising and brochures, direct mail, cold-calling, networking at the local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary. You hoped customers found you through word- of- mouth or a Yellow Pages ad.

The Internet has increased the expectation among consumers that businesses will have a credible online presence. Many of us now form "first impressions" of people and companies via our Internet browsers. From the moment your name and business appear in a Web browser to the moment your Web site loads, your first impression often means the difference between a shot at your prospect's business, or being shut out.

So, you can’t think of doing any business without internet technology and now the market is very competitive, every business owners seeking all possible advanced technologies to compete with others.  If you're not taking maximum advantage of internet or web technology to market your products and services, you are behind the times, and missing out on huge opportunities. At least that's what most marketing experts would have you believe. Explore strategies and techniques that you can use on the Internet that will enhance and support your business's overall marketing objectives. Learn how to conduct banner promotions, generate targeted online traffic, positioning your content, and over all brand awareness.

You may be hearing the term internet marketing always, Internet marketing refers to the strategies that are used to market a product or service online, marketing strategies that include search engine optimization and search engine submission, copywriting that encourages site visitors to take action, web site design strategies, online promotions, reciprocal linking, and email marketing – and that’s just hitting the highlights. If you’re new to Internet marketing, I recommend focusing on web design and search engine optimization as a starting point; for most sites, the most traffic still comes from search engines and directories.

Email marketing lists are also a great way to stay in touch with your customers and their effective use can provide a valuable marketing and information channel. The benefits are two fold with the ability for marketers to use them to heighten brand awareness whilst strengthening customer relationships. Newsletters and other marketing can be used to let customers know about new products or services as well as provide segment relevant information to them designed to offer value and a “good read”.

Internet marketing can attract more people to your website, increase customers for your business, and enhance branding of your company and products. If you are just beginning your online marketing strategy the top list below will get you started on a plan that has worked for many.

1.    Start with a web promotion plan and an effective web design and development strategy.

2.    Get ranked at the top in major search engines, and practice good Search Optimization Techniques.

3.    Search engine marketing (SEM) & Sponsored link

4.    Learn to use Email Marketing Effectively.

5.    Presence on Social medias like facebook and twitter

6.    Blog and interact with your visitors.

What matters most in Search Engine?

1. Which websites link to you

2. Number of websites linking to you

3. Google Page Rank (PR) of the website linking to you

4. Anchor text used in the link linking to you

5. Number & type of links linking to the website links to you

6. Whether or not the websites linking to you are deemed by Google as authority website

Why Argus technologies?

Because of the extensive research, development and execution experience by creating search engine friendly website and content management systems, backed by an excellent off shore research team capable of analyzing global internet ideas & trends.

ERP Software in Qatar

Are you looking for an ERP Software? I think the first factor you may be keep in mind to find a cheap one. A cheap software system doesn’t mean it’s the best solution to your needs, that may be, if you have very minimum requirements . Do a minimum study about the system before selecting a cheap solution. Many factors come into play when purchasing an expensive or cheap ERP Software. This decision will determine how successful you company will be now and in the future. Operating your company efficiently and productively should be of most importance and far greater than saving a few thousand riyals.

What you have to remember is your company will be using this software daily and calling in for support. Will your company receive adequate and proper training? If you have communication barriers not allowing your employees to get the proper support and or training your company as a whole will suffer.

What should you look for in an ERP Vendor? 


Consider the following factors

1.    Ensure the company is in your country and speaks your language.
2.    Ask detailed questions about customization and modifications.
3.    Determine if the support and training will ensure success within your company.
4.    Look at their current client list and see if you fit in this industry.
5.    Ensure you’re allowed modifying the software internally within the company.
6.    Ensure you have the ability to still receive the greatest and latest upgrades from the company.
7.    Hourly rate of the programmers when support or training is acceptable.
8.    Vendor employees giving you more attention to your queries or how they are available to serve you.
9.    Determine the skill level of the ERP Vendors programmers. Ask advanced questions and see how long it takes to get an answer back.

10.    Do your research. Talk to other company’s that use their software and see if they’re happy with their service.