Teams at Freshworks primarily use MySQL for their database needs. Freshworks being an AWS shop, RDS MySQL has been our primary, go-to solution. Sometime back a team was formed and tasked with building a self-hosted DB solution. We called ourselves the DBaaS (Database as a service) team and started with a DBaaS solution for MySQL. In this blog post (part I of the series) we discuss the motivation and high-level architecture of the DBaaS solution.

Every project manager has experienced this — things are running along smoothly in your workflow when you receive an email with the subject: “URGENT — need ASAP.” And just like that, an ad-hoc project falls into your lap. Ad-hoc projects or requests are unexpected and can catch you off guard.

Curious about virtual project management? With the COVID 19 pandemic, businesses around the world have gone remote. Clearly, virtual work is the new normal. Having virtual teams can be a considerable advantage to both the employer and the employee. However, virtual project management needs to be done the right way in order to create successful virtual teams, So what are the best practices to manage virtual teams?

Picture the following scenario: you get your usual cup of coffee, are ready to start your workday, log into your team collaboration tool on your computer. Then you are immediately greeted by your colleague who sends you a cute kitty picture with a “good morning” message. What are the chances this is a hacker sneaking into your computer and stealing your data? Well, it turns out this is something very likely to happen if you don’t have a safe workspace for secure messaging.

Much like every other aspect of virtually running a business, technology has drastically changed customer service. There are constantly new channels for customers to reach out to businesses. An important addition to this growing list of channels is a customer service chatbot. In this blog, we talk about everything you need to know about a customer service chatbot.

Languages are complicated, and every language is complicated in different ways that can be hard to understand without learning every single one of them. Some languages form words from multiple characters while others have symbols that represent entire concepts. Some feature words without pluralization or gender and rely on context for that while others have two or even more genders for words. Some are very phonetic while others pronounce words seemingly at random (cough English, though cough).

Switching to new technology solutions is always challenging, especially when convincing people such as association board members to adopt the change. But with the right mindset, the transition can be effortless. When the software effectively patches the gaps in workflows, you can make things run much easier. Making a case for the implementation is just a matter of discussion that is supplemented with facts. Many business types and organizations can benefit equally from using board portal software.

Dealing with insider threats requires a different strategy from other security challenges because of their very nature. Insiders have a significant advantage. They are aware of the organization’s policies, procedures, technology and vulnerabilities. They often have access to important systems, business IP and sensitive data. As such, they can cause a business the most damage compared to external attackers such as hackers.

If businesses were previously skeptical about the potential of chatbots in customer service, there is no longer any question about it. The pandemic has pushed businesses to mainstream AI and different types of chatbots for varied objectives. With evasive measures such as cost cuts, chatbots have not just helped businesses stay afloat but also garner the goodwill of customers and ROI.

User personas are essential product management tools. These fictional representations of your users help you gain empathy and a better understanding of your target audiences. You can think of them as a visual map of your users’ main characteristics. With user personas it’s easy to relate to your target audiences and ‘put yourself in their shoes’ so that you can build awesome products and cool features that really meet their needs.