November 2021 - Simply Flows

The Best Productivity Tools for Business Interns

Most of us have been interns at some point in our lives. As an intern, you have to learn the ins and outs of a company in a very short period. Intern’s tasks can be very random and not always the most organized. It can be tough to stay on top of the non-streamlined work given to interns. Since many tasks are not set in stone, there could be confusion and miscommunication between the intern and their manager. To avoid such issues and to be efficient and productive, you can use many different tools. These are five of the best productivity tools for business interns.

1. Hootsuite

Companies give interns lots of busy work, such as making and managing posts. Hootsuite helps simplify the process of posting. Rather than switching between multiple apps and posting on each of them, Hootsuite keeps all social media in one place. This is a great productivity tool for business interns because you can schedule posts for weeks at a time so that you never forget to post. Also, the app aggregates your posts’ performance statistics from all social media accounts. It tells you what posts are doing well and which ones are not. Hootsuite is beneficial because it automates your posting schedule and gives you analytics to let you know if you should stick to your strategy or make changes.

2. Canva

One of my favorite tools to use as an intern is Canva. Canva is an app that allows you to create original art or edit photos using different templates. You can easily move, resize, or edit images to your liking and needs. If you had to create an image for emails, a new company logo, an icon, or a banner for social media, Canva is your go-to tool. This is one of the best productivity tools for business interns because of all the features. For example, one of the best features of Canva is its design tab. You are several templates to choose from and can make things from videos to business cards with the click of a button. You are given the creative freedom, as a business intern, to make items quickly and with ease, even if you are not a graphic designer. There is both a free and paid version for the application. People who want access to more features can get the paid version, but as an intern, Canva has a lot to offer with just the free version.

3. Trello

Trello is an excellent app for both project tracking and team collaboration. Through Trello, people can see their weekly tasks and update them according to their completion status, assignment, priority, etc. Interns can organize their workload into a manageable schedule to meet their deadlines. Trello allows other coworkers to see your schedule so that they know when you are busy. Managers can assign tasks to team members and manage workloads, deadlines, and project goals in Trello. This is a beneficial application that increases productivity. It helps you manage and schedule your tasks and communicate what you are currently working on with your team.

4. Grammarly

Grammarly is an essential productivity tool for business interns. Sometimes, you may not have time to go over all your grammatical and spelling errors when writing something. That’s what Grammarly is for. This application catches the majority of mistakes that you have made in a piece of writing. Whether it is a simple comma error or a passage with passive voice, Grammarly tells you where the issues are and gives you suggestions on how to fix them. This is vital for business interns, so emails, letters, presentation slides, and other documents look and sound professional.

5. PomoDone

PomoDone is very helpful with time management. You use a clock to determine how much time you spend on specific assignments. For example, you can schedule yourself to work for 45 minutes straight, then take a 15-minute break to recharge. This will motivate you to focus on your current task and get as much done as possible before the break. It will also prevent you from getting distracted from your tasks since you know you will be stepping away from your work in a short time. PomoDone is a valuable productivity tool for business interns.

Knowing these tools will not only give you a leg up at your internship but at a future job as well. Increasing your productivity as an intern will leave a significant mark on the company. They will be impressed with your work, which will contribute to you performing well in future jobs. Having systems for organizing, correcting, and editing work is vital in the business world, and understanding how to use them can help you be more competitive as a company.

Simply Flows is an application created to help with workplace productivity and efficiency. Click here to read another one of our blogs about productivity in the workplace.

5 Ways Automation Tools Help Improve Customer Relations

Businesses adopt task and process automation at a fast pace. As the technology evolves, it spreads across more and more verticals, roles, and use cases. Automation makes processes faster, smoother, and reliable. In addition, it increases productivity, improves quality of products and services and reduces lead times. The business is automation’s prime beneficiary. However, given the cost savings and productivity gains it brings, customers are positively impacted, too. Did you know that process automation tools can help improve customer relations?

1. Customer Personalization

Communication with customers manually is hard to manage and scale. In fact, it becomes nearly impossible with customers across the globe, trying to get in touch with the company from different time zones. This is where customer experience automation comes in. This can range from personalizing the website when users log in, addressing customers by name or offering personalized recommendations. Personalization makes customers feel appreciated and recognized, increasing their brand loyalty.

2. Quality and Consistency

Automation can remove human errors and make processes run smoothly. When customers interact with a business they want quality and consistency of service. If a customer has made a purchase, they want to track their order from shipment to delivery. Customers can receive real time updates via text messages or emails. Ultimately, the automation tools improve the product or service. And that means a better customer experience.

3. Ease of Use and Customer Support

Improving customer support has become one of process automation’s major trends lately. Some tools have become commonplace – chatbots, for example. Chatbots automatically respond to customer’s questions. They ‘know’ the user well and offer customizations and help based on location, preferences, and other context. Guided tutorials of software products is another real-world application.

4. Improves Relationship

When customers feel appreciated by a business, they are more loyal and tend to return to purchase again. Automation can provide customers with attention and support 24/7. It personalizes the way each customer is addressed and improves the customer’s interaction with a business. Personalization and availability subsequently makes customers feel recognized and appreciated by the business.

5. Scalability

No matter how hard a business tries, there will be a point when customer care specialists cannot manually handle the load of customer questions or issues. There are different reasons for this. For example, customer support may be temporarily understaffed. In other cases the timezone differences reduce coverage. Other times holidays and vacations get in the way. Whatever the case, the business will have troubles responding to customers’ needs. This is where automation offers unparalleled help. Once you have automated a process, it can scale up indefinitely. The best candidate for automation is the first tier of support. That is where customers ask basic questions or need resources like user guides. Automating this first line of support takes a huge chunk off the plate of already overwhelmed support team. Also, it shortens the overall wait time, allowing more people to get help.

Automation has the ability to tailor experiences based on their customer needs. Also, it allows for personalization, consistency and ease of use. And last but not least, many more customers can be taken care of via automation. Therefore, automation tools can improve customer relations between the business and their clients.

Learn how Simply Flows can help improve your customer relations.

Work Smarter, Not Harder: 6 Ways to Simplify your Life

You’ve probably heard the saying “work smarter, not harder” more than once in your life. Not only can this saying be applied to work activities, but to everyday ones as well. There are many surprising and easy ways that you can simplify your life. If you follow these six tips, you will work smarter, not harder. Following this mindset will help you save time and money. Additionally, it will help increase your productivity and efficiency and make you more motivated to get work done in a simple manner. Working smarter, not harder, is a practical philosophy that makes both work and life easier and more enjoyable.

1. Take More Breaks

One surprising way to work smarter, not harder, is to take more breaks during the day. Whether you are working on an important project due for work or just doing chores, it is crucial to recharge. People can become exhausted by focusing on one thing for too long. This can result in poorer quality of work and problems concentrating. By taking breaks, you are allowing your brain to reset. You can refresh your mind and focus on the task at hand after a break of around 15-20 minutes.

2. Check Your Email When you Wake up

It is important to check your email first thing in the morning before you officially start the day. The reason for this is that you want to be sure you’re on the same page as everyone else on your team. If you begin your tasks without checking your email, you may miss essential information. For example, priorities may have changed due to a critical problem with a customer. Checking emails when you wake up also helps you prepare for the day before it even starts. Rather than sorting through everything at once, you can check your emails first thing in the morning and be mentally prepared to get started with the day.

3. Stop Multitasking

Focusing on many different tasks at once can slow brain functioning down. When multitasking, your brain is confused about what it is supposed to be doing at the given time. It makes it more challenging to concentrate, and you are quicker to get tired. Paying attention to one thing for a prolonged time period will yield much better results than switching between different ones. Also, by focusing on one task, you are less likely to make errors in your work. This allows a person to be more productive and work for more extended periods without getting drained.

4. Track Where you are Wasting Time

Sometimes you may get sidetracked throughout the day and do not spend much time doing actual work. It would be smart to note when you get distracted or are less productive during the day to prevent this. Taking note of this can help you determine when and why you are spending time on trivial tasks. By pointing out these issues, you can then figure out ways to fix them. For example, browsing through your social media feed is usually a huge time sucker. Identifying and remedying this issue will help you become more efficient in everything you do.

5. Properly Position People Around the Office

Another smart way to be efficient is by properly positioning people in the office. If a person uses the copier more throughout the day and is seated very far away from it, this could take up valuable work time. By moving the person closer to the copier, you would be shortening their ‘trip’. Locating people closer to the items they use during the day would make them spend less time moving around the office. Productivity would increase, and downtime would decrease, helping the company’s bottom line.

6. Automation

work smarter, not harder - automate your tasks

Automation is an excellent example of how to truly take advantage of working smarter, not harder.

Have a tedious task that you do not like doing throughout the day? Automate it.
Do you have to copy and paste large amounts of data from one place to another? Automate it.
Have to send out a check-up email every few days to your employees? Automate it.

Utilizing automation in the workplace will make your life so much easier. It will reduce errors, give you back time in your day, and increase efficiency. Automation is one of the best ways to be more productive by removing repetitive manual tasks from your life.

Adopting the motto ‘work smarter, not harder’ can genuinely change how you accomplish work at the office, home, school, the charity you volunteer at, and so on. It will give you back time in the day and make your life more efficient. Following these tips is just a start on how we can simplify our lives. Always prioritize this lifestyle and ensure that you are doing everything in your power to make your life easier while also not sacrificing your quality of work and performance.

Simply Flows can help you determine the best ways to work smarter, not harder.

12 Best Time Management Tips

Time management is how we distribute our time to complete necessary activities. Good time management can allow you to get more done in less time and relieves a lot of stress. But when work responsibilities pile up and deadlines approach, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. We’ve collected the best time management tips to keep you on track – successful and stress-free.

1. Create Goals

Before you begin your day or week, set goals. Take note of tasks that you want to accomplish by a certain date. Goals allow you to see what needs to be done. It’s also important to set achievable goals and make sure they are realistic.

2. Use Time Management Tools

Time management tools exist for a reason – they track work, time, and people or budget. For example, use Toggl to track how much time you spend on each activity. Calendars are immensely helpful to set reminders for meetings and deadlines, or to block off time for focused work.

3. Prioritize

This is the most important among all time management tips. Put the most important tasks as a priority. Just a note, ‘urgent’ is not the same as ‘important’. Make sure tasks with the highest priority get done first. All others you can handle later – when you have the extra time.

4. Establish a Routine

Get into a routine. Try to set specific times to do certain tasks and stick to that time. If you put yourself on a schedule it will be easier to complete your work.

5. Set Time Limits for Tasks

Work and responsibilities can feel like they go on forever and you can easily spend too much time focusing on one task. It is important to set a time limit for a task so you don’t wear yourself out working on a singular project for an extended amount of time. Time limits indicate when it’s time to stop and break or stop and move on.

6. Plan Your Week Before It Starts

If you take the time to plan your week before it starts, it can alleviate some of the stress that you might have during the week. A planned schedule can keep you on time and on task. And once the week starts it is hard to get around to planning when you are already doing the things you are supposedly planning for.

7. Take Advantage of Your Most Productive Times

If you know you are most productive between the hours of 1pm -3pm then that is when you should get down to work. Take advantage of how your body naturally feels and get work done. Most productive times can be used to achieve bulk loads of work.

8. Break Tasks up to Keep from Feeling Overwhelmed

If you have a large project or one with multiple parts, break it down. Separate your tasks and complete them in the order they need to be completed. Small tasks are more achievable than large tasks and small tasks make work more manageable.

9. Take Breaks

Take breaks between tasks or when you feel like you need one. Break prevents burnout and can alleviate stress. Work is important but so is your well-being and breaks are a way to take care of yourself.

10. Try Not to Procrastinate

Work can be daunting but it’s best not to procrastinate. When you procrastinate work doesn’t go away, it just piles up. Putting off work can feel good at the moment but it only leads to a lot of stress later.

11. Use a To-Do List

A to-do list lets you know what needs to be completed for the day. A visualization of your tasks allows you to have a better understanding of what needs to be done. A to-do list also allows you to check tasks off. Whenever we complete a task, our brain releases dopamine – the neurotransmitter responsible for our feelings of accomplishment, satisfaction and happiness. Checking tasks off our to-do list makes us feel good and motivates us to go on and complete more work to get more dopamine and extend the pleasant feeling.

12. Knowing When to Put a Task on Hold or Say No

If you know that you are overwhelmed, learn how to say no or put things on hold. Saying yes to tasks you can’t complete just stresses you out and leads to subpar work. The tasks can always be given to someone else or just be completed when your more pressing priorities are completed.

Work and responsibilities can be overwhelming and stressful. However, having tips and strategies to manage that stress is beneficial. We’ve compiled a list of the best time management tips. You don’t have to use all of them, though. Implementing even one of them in your routine will leave a big impact.

Learn how Simply Flows can help you better manage your time.

Productivity vs. Efficiency: Which is More Important?

When working, you know that it is important to be both productive and efficient. However, do you know the difference between productivity vs. efficiency? It is essential to understand that they do not mean the same thing. Knowing the difference between productivity and efficiency can help you better understand them and decide what occasions call for one vs. the other.

What are Productivity and Efficiency?

Before we delve into differences and similarities, let’s first define the two. Efficiency is the production of something without wasting a large number of products or time. It ensures that you produce high-quality products while only utilizing the necessary resources. Productivity is the measurement of how efficiently inputs, such as products and other components, can create multiple outputs for a company. In simpler terms, productivity determines how to create a product with little input wastes.

Differences

Although some people use productivity and efficiency interchangeably, the two are not synonymous. The effort put into a project is efficiency. A business tries to use the least amount of resources to get what they need done. Productivity is the physical amount of work that you can complete. It focuses on getting the job done with the current resources at the company’s disposal. Efficiency focuses more on the resources used to make a product, and productivity is more about how much work gets done in a period of time. Efficiency is a reactive process, which means its outcome results from a person’s effort. In contrast, productivity is proactive. You put in the work to create the most items in a short time interval.

Which is More Important?

Trick question! Both productivity and efficiency are vital to keeping a company strong and profitable. By adding together productivity and efficiency, you can get actual productivity within an organization. Some may say that productivity is more important than efficiency, but one can not exist without the other. If you’re making something for a company, you can do it efficiently so that it uses few resources but has a good quality. However, you also want to produce the most amount of products possible during that time. By combining productivity and efficiency, you can optimize fewer resources while still making more output for your business. Productivity vs. efficiency may have their differences, but together they create an optimal model for a company.

Knowing the differences between productivity vs. efficiency is just the first step to getting your business on track. Now, one must implement these practices into the workplace. By doing this, you will have lower operational costs, better utilization of resources, and increased profits for your company.

Check out our product to find out how you can increase efficiency and productivity within your organization.

Robotic Process Automation: RPA Benefits

What is RPA?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a software technology. It combines task automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to mimic repetitive processes usually done by people. Modern RPA solutions are much more advanced and dynamic than their predecessors, which only automated simple tasks. Nowadays RPA can recognize patterns, learn from the data, navigate systems, respond to customers’ questions, etc. Robotic process Automation is moving towards Intelligent Automation, fueled by AI. Not only can it achieve the same results as people, but RPA can complete tasks much quicker, without making any mistakes. And that is a game changer for the business – competing for talent, striving for cost effectiveness, and avoiding the high toll of data errors. Let’s further explore the RPA benefits.

Pros of RPA Systems

RPA systems complete repetitive mundane work that is usually the responsibility of knowledge workers. As a result, this increases employee satisfaction and productivity because they are no longer spending hours on monotonous work. Indeed, a study of 10,500 office workers from 11 countries around the world showed that over 75% believe spending time on tasks that could be automated is a poor use of their skills.

RPA saves time and money for the business and improves the overall quality of product and services. Since these systems are more accurate in their executions, they save a lot of money from auditing and correcting errors caused by humans. Furthermore, RPA can handle high volumes of tasks, without the need of overtime or extra hires, once again saving a lot of money for the organization.

RPA Across Industries

RPA systems are versatile, with a myriad of use cases. The technology is applicable across many different industries. It can help the insurance industry with automating the process of reviewing claims or risk mitigation and risk ratings. The healthcare industry is one with an abundance of information and medical professionals spend endless hours manually entering patient information. Many business processes like updating patient information, processing claims, motioning records, etc. can all be completed through automation. Lastly, it can help the manufacturing industry with migrating data, simplifying and updating bill of material statuses.

RPA is moving to the front office at a rapid pace. Customer care becomes more and more involved, dispersed, outsourced, and… terrible. Let’s be honest, keeping a customer/patient/prospect on the phone for half an hour is just not acceptable. Transferring your call between several different tiers/departments/companies is frustrating and inefficient. RPA has a huge potential to improve the journey of the customer and their relationship with the business.

Robotic Process Automation technology is on the rise. It automates manual repetitive tasks and streamlines processes currently done by people. RPA systems have many advantages like saving time and money, eliminating data errors, increasing job satisfaction, and reducing turnover. As RPA systems evolve, more companies will adopt and benefit from such solutions. RPA is a game-changing technology that carries indefinite possibilities. Furthermore, not only does it automate high-volume, repeatable tasks but by doing so it frees up time for impactful work and innovation. RPA is the future of work. Therefore, companies embracing that technology are leaping into the future.

In this article we’ve covered what RPA is and its main benefits. Interested to learn more about why RPA is the future?

Errors from Manual Data Entry and How to Avoid Them

Everybody makes mistakes; we’re only human. When entering data into an excel file or on paperwork, there is always a possibility for an error. Although not intentional, these errors could have severe repercussions for the person who made them and for the company. A person never means to harm but nonetheless they may cause huge problems. Let’s examine the most common types of human errors caused by manual data entry and what we can do to avoid them.

human errors caused by manual data entry

Common Types of Human Errors

Human error is unpredictable and there are various kinds of mistakes that can happen in the workplace. One type of error is a slip. A slip is when you do something by accident or unintentionally. For example, if a person were to put a file in the wrong folder, this would be a slip. A lapse is another common type of human error. This is when you forget to do or finish a task. The severity of the potential problem is dependent on the importance of the job. In addition, mistakes are human errors where people fail at making proper decisions. When tasked with deciding between further negotiating a deal or accepting an offer, a person could choose the wrong option and make a mistake.

Reason for Errors

There are many reasons for such errors to occur. Some people may not care about the repercussions of their actions. They may become too comfortable and even overconfident and neglect caution when they are doing their work.

Another cause of human error is distractions. Offices provide endless distractions with their open floor plans, constant buzz, phones ringing, and people stopping by each other’s desks. On the other hand, working from home may not be ideal either, if you share a small space with young children, barking dogs, or loud family members.

If a person is tired, stressed, overwhelmed, or working too fast, this also leaves room for error.

Finally, one of the significant reasons for error is inadequate training. Without enough experience and training, people will make more mistakes.

Repercussions from Errors

Human errors can be mild or very serious, depending on the gravity of the consequences. Some repercussions for milder issues could be reprimanding the employee and ensuring they see their mistake, so it does not happen again. However, more serious errors may have severe repercussions.

For example, if an accountant were to add an extra three 0’s to the end of a statement, saying they are reporting for 100,000,000 instead of 100,000, this would be a severe issue. The company could incur fines or other penalties by the authorities, and the employee may lose their job.

Reporting incorrect student data to the state may result in terminated funding for an educational organization. This is another example of how problematic human errors could be. They may have been unintentional, but may still cause a lot of trouble for the organization.

Ways to Prevent

To prevent errors, businesses must train their employees well. Without proper training and data integrity procedures in place, knowledge workers will make significant mistakes more often. Companies must administer refresher courses throughout the year, so people continue to follow data integrity best practices.

Enforcing impossible deadlines is a sure invitation to a lot of errors. Planning ahead and allowing enough time for employees to complete and check their work before they submit is a must.

A company must also have a plan in place for finding and fixing issues. Employees need access to tools to avoid errors altogether or make them easier to discover and fix. There are certain best practices that significantly reduce errors and improve the quality of a product or service. For example, having a backup of the data, performing regular audits, and employing automation are some examples of such practices.

And last but not least, when you know you have important data to work with, it is best not to rush, but to relax and to get a good night’s rest. Schedule your most demanding pieces of work for when you can limit the distractions to a minimum.

As stated, human errors are inevitable. You can not prevent people from messing up when doing work manually. There will always be a time when someone slips up and makes a mistake – large or small. However, there are automation tools that can help. Applications like Simply Flows can help eradicate manual data entry errors and help your company run efficiently.

Robotic Process Automation is the Future

What is Robotic Process Automation?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a software that automates repetitive business processes. It utilizes technologies like API, webhooks, screen scraping, and character optical recognition. RPA connects different applications with one another and makes it possible for data to flow through the different applications. RPA software imitates the human interactions with systems but does it in a much faster, reliable, and safe manner. Some of the RPA solutions have low-code capabilities allowing users to build integration scripts. Others are no-code, where even people with no technical experience can automate their work all by themselves. Not surprisingly, RPA has been gaining a lot of popularity and adoption lately. And it’s not going away. Just the opposite, Robotic Process Automation is the future.

Why is RPA Making a Rise?

The RPA market is rapidly growing. According to Gartner, its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is expected to be 49% between 2020 and 2027. Even though most of the RPA technology had been around for a little while, it really started booming in the last decade. Furthermore, the pandemic and working from anywhere accelerated the adoption of automation by businesses. The RPA market is still nescient and therefore quite fragmented. We are already seeing consolidating happening, as it matures. Currently, the 10 largest RPA providers hold over 70% of the enterprise market. Due to an enormous demand to automate legacy paper-based and manual processes, the need of RPA solutions will continue to grow.

How does RPA Work?

Most RPA vendors offer subscription-based services. Customers can choose between several tiers, depending on their needs. Some may only need a couple of workflows, while others will require a high-volume automation. Many solutions have a free tier or a free trial, so users can try them out before they decide on a purchase. Also, most tools support cloud applications only but there are some that work with desktop software as well.

There are many different ways organizations can use RPA across different departments. RPA can help improve finance and accounting processes, recruitment, supply chain management, customer care, as well as other areas. For example, RPA can assist in processing a huge load of documents like contracts with e-signatures, uploading documents, or approval procedures. Additionally, people specialists can use RPA to update employee information and automate time sheet submission processes.

Where is RPA Headed?

• RPA is still developing and evolving. It started by automating simple tasks and has been evolving to a much more complex solution. Nowadays it utilizes AI technologies like process mining, machine learning, and natural language processing. Next, it will enter the AR/VR world (metaverse).

• Additionally, it is moving from strictly back-office operations like accounting and invoicing to front-office processes like customer care.

• At the beginning RPA was only accessible to the big enterprise due to its high cost. Recently, we see more and more RPA technology offered to the small and mid-size businesses.

• As with the rest of the technology, RPA has also been moving to the cloud. And this trend is going stronger.

• Originally RPA was best suited for the BFSI – banking, financial services, and insurance. Nowadays everyone needs their work automated, so they are more productive.

As RPA is on the rise and as it continues to cement its role in the future, more organizations are starting to adapt. Companies employ RPA to optimize operational efficiency, accelerate an existing process, or to optimize cost. RPA will eventually be an end-to-end intelligent system automating complex business processes. Organizations are already realizing the benefits and will continue adopting the technology. Indeed, Robotic Process Automation is the future.

Learn how Simply Flows can help transform your business .

5 of the Best Long-Term Stocks

Stocks have their ups and downs. Historically, some stocks have been more profitable than others. There are specific stocks that have continually done well in the market. This article will discuss some of the best long-term stocks to invest in, based on different factors.

1. Amazon (AMZN)

Amazon continues to be one of the front runners in the stock market. Since their launch in 1997, they have been a continuously growing leader in their space. Amazon has an endless amount of products available, a very efficient company structure, and a strong base of customers, which contributes to their success. They have the highest total return of 212,922%, since their IPO in 1997. $1,000 invested in Amazon stock back then would be worth over $2 million now.

2. Monster Beverage Corp. (MNST)

Monster energy drinks have a strong standing in the market. Over the past 20 years, the company has continued to grow and release new products. They expanded their customer base and even made a deal with Coca-Cola to help with production, and research and development. Furthermore, Monster’s total return is close to Amazon’s – at 212,468% and has an average annual return of 35.4%. Had you purchased MNST stocks for $1,000 in 1995, you would now have more than $2 million.

Actually, Monster is the leader if we only look at the last 20 years. Check out this chart by Statista .

3. Jack and Henry Associates (JKHY)

Jack and Henry Associates is a financial services company. They are one of the first companies to offer products and services for financial transactions, processing, and automation. The company puts a heavy focus on its core values: a passion for customer service, relationships, integrity, drive for results, and excellence. These values spell out the word “PRIDE,” further emphasizing how much they care about implementing these values into their company. Jack and Henry Associates has a total return of 212,322%, following right after Monster and Amazon. Once again, the $1,000 investment in 1985 would have grown to over $2 million now.

4. Best Buy Co. (BBY)

Best Buy is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the US. With new technology and changing consumer preferences, Best Buy has always adapted and progressed as an organization. They are a reliable business, with customers returning to their stores, contributing to their 108,511% total return. Best Buy has been performing very well on the stock market and continues to be one of the best long-term stocks. Indeed, $1,000 back in 1990 would have become over $1 million by now.

5. Ross Stores (ROST)

Many retail stores have not been able to keep up with Amazon, but Ross Stores has performed well in this competitive environment. They sell clothing and have an excellent long-term company strategy. As all brick-and-mortar stores, they were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, their stock bounced back and went above its pre-pandemic levels. ROST shares have generated a total return of 81,286%. $1,000 invested in Ross in 1990 would be worth over $800K now.

Major Factors Contributing to Success

All these companies share attributes contributing to their success. They have well-defined mission statements and values to ensure their consumers’ needs are satisfied. These businesses have a solid hold over the market in their sectors and do not easily fall victim to competitors or substitutes. Due to these factors, they have remained strong over the years, placing them among some of the best long-term stocks.

Simply Flows offers unique stock data analysis tools to assist your investments .

Monthly Archives: November 2021