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When you’re contemplating conducting a background check on someone, it’s vital to follow a structured approach to guarantee accuracy and legality. Start by obtaining written consent, as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Then, choose a dependable service and gather necessary details like their full name and date of birth. This process will help you uncover significant information, but comprehending the legal implications is just as important. What comes next may surprise you. Key Takeaways Obtain written consent from the individual to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) before conducting any background check. Choose a reputable background check se…

YouTube has unveiled a series of changes to its mid-roll ad system aimed at optimizing ad delivery, enhancing transparency, and providing creators with more control over ad placements. The updates, which begin rolling out in May, reflect evolving viewer behavior and are intended to balance creator earnings with viewer satisfaction and advertiser expectations. According to YouTube, the platform is adjusting how ads appear in videos to keep up with shifting content trends and viewing habits. “Videos are getting longer, viewing habits are shifting, and we need to adapt to ensure ads are delivered effectively,” the company stated. Hybrid Ad Placement Model Encouraged One of…

YouTube has announced its support for the NO FAKES Act of 2025, a bipartisan legislative proposal aimed at addressing the misuse of AI-generated content that simulates an individual’s likeness or voice. Introduced by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the legislation is intended to provide legal tools to prevent deceptive or unauthorized digital replicas that can mislead audiences or harm reputations. According to YouTube, the NO FAKES Act complements the platform’s broader commitment to responsible AI development and content protection. The company describes the legislation as a clear legal framework to safeguard individuals’ rights, echoing its su…

YouTube has announced the integration of Google DeepMind’s latest video generation model, Veo 2, into its Shorts platform, enhancing AI-powered creative tools for users. The update expands Dream Screen, YouTube’s AI-driven background generator, and introduces the ability to create standalone AI-generated video clips that can be added to Shorts. With the launch of Veo 2, users can now generate video clips from simple text prompts, filling gaps in their content or creating entirely new scenes. This new capability allows creators to add AI-generated elements directly into Shorts without needing original footage. “Need a specific scene but don’t have the right footage? Want…

A recent study by influencer marketing platform Heepsy reveals that YouTube users are more likely than users of any other platform to forget their passwords and request account recovery help. The study, which analyzed password-related search queries across 35 major platforms, found that YouTube leads with the highest volume of password reset activity, both in absolute numbers and per capita. According to the findings, YouTube users request new passwords more than four times a year on average, with a staggering 1.4 billion total password-related searches. This equates to 35,899 searches per 100,000 users, making it the most problematic platform in terms of password memory…

In a strategic development for digital marketing, YouTube recently announced the upcoming discontinuation of its Demand Gen program by December 2025. While the news might seem alarming at first glance, it holds essential insights for small business owners looking to maximize their online presence. Demand Gen has been instrumental in building brand awareness and driving conversions. With 68% of conversions stemming from users who didn’t previously engage with the brand, the program enabled businesses to reach untapped audiences while they were streaming, scrolling, or shopping. YouTube’s approach transformed digital marketing for small businesses by introducing a dynamic …

As businesses gear up for the holiday season, YouTube’s Demand Gen tool is introducing a suite of enhancements designed to maximize advertising effectiveness. These new features could not only help build brand awareness but also significantly improve conversion rates for small businesses investing in online advertising. According to recent data from YouTube, Demand Gen has already proven its worth, with advertisers witnessing an average increase of over 20% in conversions and conversion value in the first half of 2025. This statistic should get the attention of small business owners seeking to stretch their marketing budgets effectively and tap into new audiences. The u…

Zelle processed over $1 trillion in transactions in 2024, marking the highest amount ever sent through a person-to-person payment service in a single year. The platform also saw significant growth in transaction volume and user enrollment, reinforcing its role as a major financial tool for consumers and small businesses. Zelle reported 151 million enrolled user accounts, an increase of 16 million from the previous year. Transaction volume rose 25% to 3.6 billion, while the total dollar amount sent on the platform increased 27% year-over-year. The fourth quarter of 2024 was the strongest in Zelle’s history, driven by holiday gifting and rent payments. “Zelle is not just …

Zendesk, a recognized leader in AI-powered customer service solutions, has recently unveiled significant advancements in its Resolution Platform, aimed at revolutionizing service efficiency for businesses. As customer interactions grow in complexity and volume, the company is responding with powerful new tools designed to streamline operations and enhance user experience. Tom Eggemeier, CEO of Zendesk, emphasized the urgency for businesses to meet rising customer expectations. “Today’s customers want more than just quick responses—they expect issues fully resolved,” he stated. This shift in customer demand has prompted Zendesk to enhance its offerings, providing small bu…

Zendesk has recently made headlines with its acquisition of Unleash, a leap aimed at redefining how internal employee support systems operate through cutting-edge AI technology. For small business owners looking to streamline their internal support and boost employee efficiency, this development promises both immediate benefits and long-term considerations. The integration of Unleash’s AI-powered enterprise search capabilities into Zendesk’s platform signifies a crucial shift towards a more collaborative and efficient workplace. By seamlessly connecting knowledge from over 70 content sources—such as Google Drive, Confluence, and SharePoint—small businesses can expect to …

Small business owners are often juggling multiple responsibilities, and the need for efficient solutions has never been more pressing. A recent announcement from Zendesk highlights a strategic expansion of their partnership with Microsoft, aiming to streamline employee support services. This new integration introduces the Zendesk Agent for Microsoft 365, designed to enhance workflow and accelerate issue resolution. The integration provides small businesses with two essential tools: Microsoft Agent 365 and Zendesk Agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot. These innovations aim to simplify IT, HR, and Finance operations by embedding Zendesk’s artificial intelligence capabilities di…

At a time when customer service expectations are at an all-time high, Zendesk recently announced a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) aimed at transforming contact center operations with advanced AI integration. Small business owners should pay close attention to this partnership, as the initiatives unveiled may have a profound impact on enhancing customer interactions without the need for extensive operational overhaul. By integrating Amazon Connect’s voice capabilities, conversational analytics, and sentiment analysis into the Zendesk Contact Center platform, this collaboration offers small businesses a streamlined solution designed …

Zendesk has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Local Measure, a provider of Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and advanced voice solutions. The acquisition, expected to close in May 2025, aims to enhance Zendesk’s AI-powered voice capabilities and deepen its integration with Amazon Connect, Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud contact center solution. Strengthening AI Voice and Enterprise CX According to Zendesk, this acquisition is part of its broader strategy to expand into larger and more complex service environments. “Voice is one of the most personal and powerful ways businesses connect with their customers and employees, and managing it at…

ZeroBounce has released its Email Statistics Report for 2025, providing insights into email user behavior to help marketers optimize engagement. The report, based on a survey of 985 participants across four continents, details how individuals interact with their inboxes and what influences their email preferences. According to the ZeroBounce survey results, 93% of respondents check their email daily, with 42% doing so three to five times per day. While 35% of users spend less than an hour managing their inbox, another 35% dedicate between two and five hours each day to email. The survey highlights that email remains a crucial tool for both personal and professional comm…

Artificial intelligence has often felt out of reach for many small businesses—too complex, too costly, and too disconnected from the tools they already use. Zoho Corporation is aiming to change that. The company announced a wave of new “agentic AI” features across its collaboration, customer experience, and human resources apps—tools designed to help businesses save time, work smarter, and make AI a practical part of daily operations. The updates, which include Zoho’s workplace suite (Mail, Cliq, Sheet, and Tables), are available at no additional cost to current users. Zoho says the goal is to remove the “adoption friction” that has slowed small business AI use by embedd…

Business communications and collaboration face big changes and a software tool from Zoho leads the way. Zoho Cliq changes the way teams communicate and work together even at great distances. “Zoho Cliq is a part of the Unified Communication and Collaboration stack. It basically helps teams work together more efficiently by integrating all your communication and collaboration needs into one platform,” explains Shanthana Lakshmi S, Senior Marketing Analyst for Zoho Cliq. How Technology Forces Changes in Communications and Collaboration One big change involves how close in proximity team members need to be in physical space. Take a look at this example. You come into th…

From customer experience to collaboration, security to content management, Zoho leads the way in AI for business. Recently the company discussed closing another AI gap, this time in finance. “Many people don’t take full advantage of our customization capabilities, even with very good low code, no code features,” says Prashant Ganti, Head of Finance Platform, Zoho. AI makes these customizations easier than ever before. Where You Need AI in Finance AI customization in the Zoho Finance and Operations Platform runs the gamut from invoice creation to reconciliation and anomaly detection. An important caveat must be considered here. AI in the Zoho ecosystem does not appear…

Zoho Corporation is making another major move to simplify how small businesses adopt and use artificial intelligence — this time by embedding “agentic AI” directly into its Collaboration, Customer Experience, and Human Resources tools at no extra cost. The announcement, aims to remove one of the biggest barriers to AI adoption among small and midsize businesses: complexity. By integrating these intelligent assistants into everyday apps, Zoho wants to make AI feel less like an add-on and more like a natural part of daily operations. For small business owners who have struggled with limited budgets or technical expertise, Zoho’s latest updates could level the playing fiel…

Zoho has unveiled a significant expansion of its AI capabilities within its Finance and Operations Platform, promising to transform the way small businesses manage their financial tasks. With automation, enhanced insights, and predictive analytics, these new features aim to streamline operations for finance teams, ultimately leading to better decision-making and efficiency. At the heart of these enhancements is Zia LLM, Zoho’s proprietary large language model designed specifically for business applications. This innovative technology not only improves operational efficiency but also prioritizes data privacy, a crucial factor for small business owners managing sensitive f…

Zoho Corporation has launched Zoho Payments, a unified payment solution designed to help businesses manage online payments seamlessly through native card and ACH capabilities. With support for over 135 currencies and integrations across Zoho’s ecosystem, the new product allows companies to centralize and streamline their financial workflows. “As digital payments become the default preference for everything from online purchases to subscription services, businesses need a payment solution that not only offers flexibility, but is also tightly connected to their financial operations,” said Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho. “Zoho Payments closes this gap by natively co…

Zoho Corporation has expanded its customer experience (CX) platform with deeper AI and workflow orchestration capabilities, powered by its proprietary AI engine, Zia. The enhancements aim to eliminate barriers to CRM adoption across business functions and make customer data more accessible and actionable for all departments. “Multiple people in an organization need access to customer information, yet historically, CRMs have been relegated to only sales teams,” said Mani Vembu, CEO, Zoho. “As we democratize CRM with the launch of CRM for Everyone, we also need to build in capabilities that make it easy for anyone to build and extend CRM with simple prompts, without having…

Zoho is pushing deeper into AI-driven operations with a wide set of upgrades to Zoho One, its all-in-one business software platform, giving small business owners more ways to automate tasks, surface information instantly, and reduce time spent switching between apps. The company announced the enhancements today from Austin, positioning its expanded Zia AI tools as a way for organizations of all sizes to centralize intelligence and turn scattered data into clearer, faster insight. For small business owners who rely on multiple cloud services—from Google Workspace to accounting, CRM, HR, and project tools—the promise of unified intelligence stands out. Instead of digging t…

Zoho Corporation has announced the launch of ten new features and services within Zoho Creator, its low-code application development platform, aimed at simplifying and speeding up business app creation. The latest additions include an AI-powered assistant, CoCreator, and a suite of contextual AI tools designed to streamline every phase of the app development lifecycle. These updates are now available to all users at no additional cost. The enhancements reflect Zoho’s broader commitment to incorporating artificial intelligence in practical, privacy-respecting ways that drive real-time value for business users. CoCreator, powered by Zoho’s AI assistant Zia, allows users to…

Zoho Corporation has announced the release of Notebook AI, an AI-powered note-taking assistant now available on iOS, Android, web browsers, and macOS. Users can activate a 15-day trial to explore the app’s features before purchasing, with pricing set at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year for individual consumers. The company also plans to roll out Notebook AI to Notebook Business users within the next month at no additional cost to Business plan subscribers. Notebook AI integrates a suite of artificial intelligence tools designed to enhance note-taking, organization, and content creation. The app includes features such as content generation, translation, transcription, a…

Zoho Corporation announced the release of Ulaa Enterprise on May 14, 2025, a new enterprise-focused version of its privacy-first web browser. Ulaa Enterprise is designed to meet the security and visibility needs of enterprise organizations by offering protection at the browser level without relying on third-party integrations or complex virtual environments. “The shift to cloud-based software has made the browser the largest attack surface inside an organization, yet no software vendor has been able to produce a secure browser that strikes the correct balance between depth of policy controls and straightforward usability,” said Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho. “Ul…