December 15, 2022 - Kivo Daily

6 Considerations When Opening a Business Location

Jeah Lorraine Adams on December 15, 2022

https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-wearing-eyeglasses-3184405/

When opening a new store, careful consideration needs to be given to its location. Will it receive foot traffic? Will the product sell to the local demographic? What other businesses are nearby? These are just some of the questions you need to answer before setting up shop – continue reading to find out more.

Demographics

There’s no point in opening a store if the local area has no interest in it. You need to carry out careful research to make sure your target audience can easily access your store. There are many ways you can do this including surveys and sampling. Once you’ve narrowed your search down to a few key locations, we recommend a Pop Up Shop, which will let your gauge the success of a product within the local community.

Zoning

You will need to observe the local zoning maps, which will tell you what type of businesses can operate in which areas and where your business will thrive the most. For example, if you own an upmarket restaurant, there’s no point in opening in the middle of an industrial estate. The best places to open are close to commercial zones. Additionally, you should make sure there are residential areas nearby, which will allow for foot traffic.

Building Structure

Your business location is the first part of the puzzle, now you need to consider its structure. The building’s layout and facilities need to complement guests and employees. For example, will all customers have access to your building, even those with mobility issues? Additionally, will your staff have enough room in the back of the house to relax when they’re not on shift?

Competition

Wherever you open your business, there’s bound to be competition. You don’t want to be positioned right next door or adjacent, you need to establish your community. However, there’s no harm in opening near other popular establishments, as it may increase foot traffic to your business.

Foot Traffic

If you own a small business, you’ll likely rely on foot traffic when you first open, so make sure you check out the local area. The best way to do this is by visiting the local area a few times and noting down the peaks and troughs, which will give you an idea of when peak times are. Naturally, you should check out the area on weekdays and weekends, as foot traffic will be different.

Other Businesses Nearby

Opening a store next to direct competition is a poor idea, but situating yourself near alternative busy businesses is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your door. If you act carefully, you can form close partnerships with local businesses, which will help you nurture a positive economic environment.

Conclusion

Opening a business is exciting, but there’s a lot of work to be done before choosing a location. As well as the correct demographics, It needs to have high foot traffic, nearby businesses and residential areas, a sound structure, and no direct competition in the immediate vicinity.

4 Ways To Accelerate Clinical Trials For New Drugs

Jerry Cooper on December 15, 2022

Did you know that a clinical trial for Botox from 1989 is still ongoing? The trial, sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, aims to study the efficacy of Botox in treating various movement disorders. It requires at least 2,000 male and female participants, yet the researchers are still recruiting.

You can check the trial’s details on this ClinicalTrials.gov entry, but this lengthy timeframe isn’t that uncommon. Clinical trials are perhaps the most time-consuming part of creating a new drug, with the average being around a decade. More people suffer or succumb to the disease with each year that the study remains in progress, and researchers know this too well.

No scientist wants to rush a drug, lest they risk creating a new problem on top of the current one. Fortunately, there are ways to accelerate clinical trials without compromising safety or quality.

Reuse Data

‘Reusing’ in this context means using health-related data for purposes other than the function it initially served. Researchers rely on patient data, primarily used for general care, to conduct their respective research or analysis.

Reusability is more crucial than one gives it credit for. It forms the ‘R’ under the World Health Organization’s FAIR Principles in health-related data management and sharing (the other three being findability, accessibility, and interoperability). It accelerates drug development by making the most out of the data, reducing the risk of duplicate trials, and fostering new research ideas.

When paired with governance compliant software, storing and retrieving health-related data can be streamlined. Case report forms, electronic health records, data capture—researchers can have all the data they need in one platform, reducing search times.

Automate Some Functions

Some life science experts say a major reason clinical trials take years to complete is the immense manual effort involved. One expert even says that researchers today still work with methods used about 50 years ago, from recruiting patients to reworking databases. It leads to inefficiencies and, in some cases, discrepancies in results.

Many experts agree that clinical trials should leave repetitive tasks to automated solutions. One key area that can benefit from them is registration screening, wherein automation can keep trial data up-to-date. Since new evidence comes in almost instantly in many fields, researchers want to keep their studies as timely as possible.

Automation also has a hand in making every aspect of clinical trials as transparent as possible. It isn’t unusual for partners, particularly large companies, to invest in these studies. Automating the funding process goes a long way in ensuring every penny of investment goes into the trial.

Go Beyond The Hospital

The traditional, if not pre-pandemic, way of conducting clinical trials requires volunteers to go to their nearest hospital or medical research center. However, many potential participants live more than two hours from their local medical center, and COVID has shown how a pandemic can stop them from participating.

As a result, various scientific circles have called for more decentralization in future clinical trials. It means the venue goes beyond the hospital, communicating with participants via telehealth and having the drugs delivered to their doorsteps. Researchers and sponsors have shown that they’re more amicable to decentralized trials than before the pandemic.

Such trials wouldn’t have been possible decades ago, but now they’re here to stay. It accelerates trials by reaching out to more people regardless of where they live, helping researchers finish in less time. If it isn’t possible, researchers should at least consider them during planning.

Cut Costs Wherever Possible

For researchers, nothing’s more frustrating than their idea for a study never advancing beyond the drawing board. There are several reasons for this, perhaps the most major being the lack of funding. Depending on the medical field, the cost of a clinical trial can reach billions.

interpreting the result

A 2020 study by researchers from George Washington and John Hopkins Universities cites that patient recruitment and trial clinic visits are the most significant cost drivers. In the case of the former, the number of participants required for clinical trials grows throughout all four phases.

Sponsors might be discouraged from funding clinical trials that cost nine or ten figures, but it doesn’t always have to be this way. The solutions previously explained are also known to save on trial costs on top of hastening them. For instance, the latest data suggests that decentralized trials can achieve a maximum return on investment of USD$13.20 for every dollar spent.

Conclusion

Only time can tell what the next health crisis will be and when it’ll happen. Because of this, time is of the essence for clinical trials, whether in progress or still planning them. These studies can be faster than they are now but shouldn’t come at the expense of quality and transparency.

Twitter Revamps Blue Mark Feature For $8

Brandon Foster on December 15, 2022

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Twitter Blue, a service with a blue checkmark, will be relaunched. Unfortunately, to preserve the blue checks, consumers must pay a monthly charge.

The fact that Twitter would charge Apple customers more than other users is one of the new offer’s most remarkable characteristics. Twitter claims that the reintroduced function would cost $8 per month. For Apple customers, the functionality will be $11 a month. Musk chose it in response to his criticism of Apple, which assessed a 30% tax on all purchases made through the Apple store.

Twitter claims that the updated structure will enable users to identify between individuals, businesses, and governments. However, the firm would not immediately provide someone the ability to be verified on Twitter. Users must go through a verification procedure instead.

“On Monday, we are bringing back the ability to subscribe to TwitterBlue — it’ll be $8/mo on the web and $11/mo on iOS. In addition, we’ve added a review step before applying a blue checkmark to an account as one of our new steps to combat impersonation (which is against the Twitter Rules),” said Twitter Product Management Director Esther Crawford.

“You’ll start seeing gold checkmarks appear in your timeline — those are indicators for businesses. Soon afterward, you’ll see gray checkmarks which are for government and multilateral accounts.”

“Big thanks to the Blue team for all your hard work — this continues to be a collaborative effort involving folks from eng, product, design, health, legal, marketing, sales, and more!”

Fortunately, several people have complimented the company’s new format. Sadly, their most recent Blue Check initiative failed and attracted a lot of unfavorable comments from the general population.

Several individuals copied Musk’s Twitter identity and photo, while others modified their identities to resemble other accounts. Musk had to temporarily withdraw from the verification feature due to the disruption. However, the business will now launch its updated Blue Check product with new and improved improvements.

Changes will result in temporary loss of check

Musk said that if users changed certain aspects of their accounts, they would temporarily lose their verified status on Twitter. For instance, Twitter will immediately remove the checkmark if a verified user modifies his display name, profile picture, or handle. But this is only a short-term shift. If a modification is found, the corporation states that it will need to confirm the legitimacy of the profile.

“With a reduced workforce, it remains to be seen if it will be possible to prevent fraud, impersonation and scams with their new identity verification methodology,” said Rache Tobac, the CEO of SocialProof Security.

“Scammers will quickly determine how they can overwhelm or manipulate the identity verification system to get ‘authenticated’ as an entity they are not.”

After midterms

Elon attempted integrating Twitter with the blue check subscription plan before the elections. However, the judgment drew criticism from several well-known figures. Musk decided to halt the distribution of subscription plans as a result. However, he emphasized that Twitter would prepare the strategy following the elections.

“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” said the CEO.

“Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be identified as a condition for signing up for Twitter Bl3ue. Any name change will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark,” Elon added.

“Far too many legacies ‘verified’ checkmarks were handed out, often arbitrarily, so in reality, they are not verified. With a Google search, you can buy as many as you want. Piggybacking off payment system plus Apple/Android is a much better way to ensure verification,” he said.

“Eight dollars is not cost-prohibitive for scammers. So it is essential that Twitter figures out this whole official or not issue,” said Rache Tobac from Social Proof Security.

“Right now, we have people making jokes, impersonating the president, impersonating Nintendo, and Elon Musk is laughing at those jokes because he thinks they’re funny right now. What’s not going to be funny is someone impersonating an election official. And meddling and causing interference with the election results,” she added.

Applying for bankruptcy

Twitter’s income would ultimately increase thanks to the new subscription model. However, the business battled for months to keep up with the increasing expenditures of running the business. Musk fired hundreds of people as a result.

Unfortunately, many people found it to be offensive. And the public reacted negatively to Musk. Top Twitter executives soon quit the firm due to Musk’s inability to move the business forward. According to Andy Wu of Harvard Business School, Twitter may declare bankruptcy for many reasons.

“It’s hypothetically possible that he could use more of his Tesla stock to bail out Twitter or turn to his cadre of co-investors, who would probably have no trouble finding the money. So the saying, ‘if you owe the bank $100, that’s your problem, but if you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem’ might apply here,” Wu explained.

“Bankruptcy would also allow Musk to refinance the debt, which would make the company more financially stable. But, in addition to potential financial returns, my sense is that Musk and his co-investors are ideologically driven, that they’re really driven by values,” he added.

Day: December 15, 2022